Winds of Fate
by Nova trinity
Summary: A/U... This is a story about reincarnation in our universe, it starts in the One Piece universe at the execution of Luffy, it will be about how you can not run from fate or destiny, how a young boy who dreams of a different universe copes with it. ZoLu! Rating changed due to mentions of torture.
1. Chapter 1

_**I do not own or profit from One Piece, I write this story out of my love for the characters and everything Eiichiro Oda has accomplished. This is a prequel/prelude to a story that was suggested to me by someone that I love very much, it deals with reincarnation and all that… I am not an expert on the subject, so if anything I put in it offends you or makes you think I am crazy then suffice it to say that I am… enjoy!**_

Luffy walked towards the scaffold that had been erected in Windmill Village just for him, he had no regrets as his feet carried him closer to what lay ahead. Soon he would be reunited with Ace, and all of his nakama that had met the same fate one after another, in the reverse order of how he had met them all.

He had lived his life the way he had wanted, and would die the way he wanted, happy. The crowd was silent as they watched the new pirate king step up onto the scaffold. Some familiar faces were in the throng of spectators, and the raven headed king smiled at all of them as he was led to the block.

"I'm sorry Luffy…"

Grinning, Luffy looked over at the young man that had spoken, "Don't worry Coby, you were just doing your job."

"But you are my friend…" It was barely above a whisper, Luffy heard it through the tears streaming down his old friends face though.

"Stop the tears Coby," Luffy softly reprimanded, "I am not upset, soon I will see Ace and Zoro and all my other nakama. And one day we will reunite, its not good bye forever."

Coby used one hand to wipe the tears off his face, he regretted capturing Luffy more than anything in the world, if only he could turn back the hand of time and stop himself from searching out the new pirate king.

Luffy looked over and smiled at Garp, the old guy was holding back tears, and Luffy wanted to reassure him. "It's not the life that is being taken, it's the life that we shared that you need to remember. No matter what tomorrow brings, I'll be waiting for you to give me the fist of love that taught me how to be a man."

Garp harrumphed in reply, the statement though helped him ward off the tears that were threatening to spill down from his weather beaten cheeks. If only his grandson had joined the navy like he had wanted, he thought, but then the past few years all the change that Luffy and his nakama had brought about, would never have happened.

As Luffy lowered his head and looked up into the sky, he could have sworn that he saw his nakama all gathered, waiting for him. Sanji standing by the table, cigarette stuck out of his mouth at a odd angle, arms folded in front of him and a smile on his face for the captain. Nami looking down at her log pose and then glancing at Luffy as if to say hurry it up. Chopper, in the forest gathering some herbs that they would need for a final voyage. Robin and Franky going over some plans to upgrade the Thousand Sunny that had been sunk more than two years ago. Brooke playing his violin that was silent to Luffy's ears, yet Luffy wanted so desperately to hear it. And Zoro, his first mate, the one that meant the world to him, was propped up against a crate sleeping, Luffy couldn't help the laugh that escaped his lips as he thought of how Zoro was sleeping even in death. Usopp was the one that approached Luffy, his hand was held out. Luffy was tempted to say, "are you crazy? Can't you see my hands are tied?" That was the moment that Luffy felt the cold steel touch his neck briefly.

It was over before Luffy even knew it, with ease and not looking back, Luffy took Usopp's hand and allowed his friend to lead him towards the others.

Everyone was shocked that had witnessed this momentous occasion, moments before the sword made contact with Luffy's neck, the young pirate king had laughed. Not just laugh, he seemed genuinely pleased about something.

Garp stared flabbergasted, he had witnessed Gol D. Rogers execution all those years earlier, and now he had witnessed his own grandson's execution, they were so similar that it was eerie to the elderly naval officer.

The crowd that had been too upset to cheer for the proceedings were now all talking at once, trying to be heard over the next person. Each one had their own bit to say about the laugh that had been Luffy's parting thing.

News spread fast about how the pirate king had laughed right before the executioners sword had ended the young life.

The once peaceful village was soon thriving with people that wanted to see where the laughing pirate king had met his end, not solemn; yet with laughter.

_**A/N: Let me know what you think… should I continue it? If I do it will be a ZoLu! Also, sorry it is so short... If I continue it, it will be longer.**_


	2. Awakenings

_**A/N: **Sorry I have not updated this yet, life just got real hectic. If you can see where this is heading, then you get brownies... yes, this is headed somewhere, so don't worry. As for all the reviews I recieved about how all the Straw-hats died, it will all be explained eventually, just let the story build. Thank you to those that review, I love you all! Standard disclaimer: Don't own, so don't sue... _

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Ever since he could remember, he had dreamed of being a pirate with unusual powers. He would even wake up from his dreams with the feeling that he could stretch his body in weird ways, often as a young child tying to. Sometimes his dreams made him miss certain people that he didn't even know.

To say that he was a normal boy was saying that a monkey was a fish. His parents were dotting and attentive, yet he just didn't seem to fit in with the family. He was the youngest and only son, he had four older sisters, all of whom spoiled him when he was young and fought with him as he grew. He idolized his cousin with the nickname of Ace.

Ace used to let Luffy follow him around, often blaming Luffy for the many fires that he liked to start. So in the family, Luffy was considered a budding pyromaniac, and was taken to counseling for it so that he would not grow up as a full blown arsonist. Never once did he tell anyone differently. Even the therapist thought Luffy was to blame.

The older Luffy got, the more vivid his dreams were, and sometimes he would be so distraught when waking up that he would be in a near panic, soon his dreams turned into a searching mission. He was searching for different people, always after they had died horrible deaths.

It became so bad for him that when he was seventeen, he talked his therapist into admitting him to a crazy hospital; for the young teen really thought he was going crazy. When he dreamed of these people, he could see every vivid detail about them, even the way they sounded. Upon waking up though, the images began to fade, and all he was left with was a faint feeling of loss and longing to have them with him.

So that was what brought Luffy to the Bellemar institute. He wanted everything to be normal, for him to no longer have the feeling of loss, to no longer be haunted by dreams of people slowly being executed in front of him, with him unable to help them. One by one losing all those he loved.

His first day in the institute was uneventful, by the time all the paper work had been completed, it was time for bed, so once he was shown to his room after having a snack of an apple and a peanut butter sandwich (with no jelly), he was shown to his small cubicle of a room and told that he would be required to go to the cafeteria between six am and seven am for breakfast, at which time he would receive his schedule, making him feel like he was still in school; even though it was mid-July.

With the dream slowly fading, Luffy got up out of bed. He was slightly disoriented as to his surroundings till he saw the picture of Ace and him that had been taken last Christmas. Something had woken him up, a loud buzzing sound out of a speaker over the door. Glancing at the clock, he realized that it was five forty five. Even when he went to school, he had never gotten up this early; in fact the last time he had gotten up before six had been when he was still in elementary school and had to for a field trip.

Stretching his arms over his head, he didn't realize that they turned at odd angles. It just was natural for him to stretch, almost like he was supposed to.

Off to the side of his cubicle was a small bathroom, large enough for a shower and a toilet. The sink was next to his bed. On the other side of his bed a small closet and a chest of drawers was placed between the bed and wall, last night he had put his few meager possessions in them that he had brought. Three pairs of jeans, four tee-shirts, and some socks and underwear; he hadn't brought much, not knowing what all he would need.

Jumping in his shower, he hurriedly washed up. It didn't take him longer than ten minutes, including getting dressed. He had never been one of those types that took long showers; especially since he had four older sisters all his life that took long showers before him, making it so that all he got was tepid water at best. Even as they one by one left home, he had been quick in the shower.

Once he was in the halls, he could hear others in cubicles most likely identical to his own stirring. The sound of showers going, echoing in the empty halls; even a blow dryer here and there.

The signs were visible, pointing in the direction of the cafeteria. Other signs pointed out different rooms with names like the tangerine room, lemon room, and well you get the meaning; they were fruity rooms, Luffy thought. He was pleased to see that they even had a gymnasium, and as he glanced into one open door labeled 'Reflections,' he was pleased to see it was a small stage.

He needed no sign to go to the cafeteria however, for his nose picked up the delectable aroma of food as he turned down another hall. Once inside the cafeteria, he glanced around, only one other person was in there already. It was a slender blond guy placing chairs around the tables, he looked too young to be a worker, yet he was working so Luffy assumed that the guy worked in the kitchen.

"Hi!" Luffy cheerfully said as he picked up a tray and started to pile dish after dish of delectable dishes on it.

"You had best eat all you take." The blond said as Luffy headed over to the tables to sit.

"I will," Luffy promised, "it is one of the five most important meals of the day after all."

"Five?" the blond arched his one uncovered eye and paused in his task, "What do you mean by five?"

"Just what I said," Luffy started to dig into his food, a look of sheer bliss on his face as he tasted how good the food was. "Breakfast, Brunch, Lunch, Supper, and dinner."

The blond looked at him as if he were crazy, "You eat that many meals?"

Nodding his head, Luffy said; "When I can." Between bites he added, "My name is Luffy, I just got here last night."

"Sanji." The blond replied automatically.

"Do you work here?"

The blond snorted, "Not likely, I been in here now though for about a month. I don't like to sleep, so I help out in the kitchens."

"How many people are in here?" Luffy asked as he looked around the spacious room, brightly decorate.

"About two dozen. Give or take a dozen."

"Hmm," Luffy was thoughtful for a moment, "So anywhere from twelve to thirty six."

Sanji sat down across from him and smiled, "Yeah."

"So you are crazy too huh?" Luffy smiled.

Murder flashed over his face, and he stood up so fast that Luffy was momentarily startled, a long slender leg heading straight for him, "I am not crazy," the blond said as Luffy ducked from the kick that was aiming for his chest.

"Whoa," Luffy moved his tray of food as he got up as well, "Okay, so you are not crazy."

"He just has anger issues." A voice spoke up from behind Luffy.

Turning his head, Luffy saw who it was that had spoken. A slender teen stood in the doorway; he had curly black hair and the longest nose that Luffy had ever seen.

"Shut up Usopp." Sanji smoothly said, "I am not an angry person."

The teen smiled at Luffy and said, "My name is Usopp, I run this joint, so if you want to cause trouble, you will have to deal with me." He puffed out his chest as if he was the most important person ever.

"Hi there." Luffy smiled, "I'm Luffy."

"He's new." Sanji added as two teenage girls walked in behind Usopp. "Nami-swan… Vivi-chwan."

"Usopp," the red headed girl sighed, totally ignoring the blond; "you could step aside you know."

Usopp turned red slightly and went to get his food, mumbling, "Sorry Nami."

Slowly the others trickled in, Luffy counted an even thirty; all ranging in age from it looked like twelve to about nineteen. Usopp sat next to him, along with the youngest kid at twelve, Chopper.

"So what are you in for?" Usopp wanted to know. "Me, I killed two hundred men. My gang at home turned me in, so they didn't know what to do with me, as a result I got stuck here."

Sanji, who was sitting across from Luffy still, said, "Usopp, I thought it was five hundred you killed, all single handedly."

The long nosed teen nodded his head and said, "Oh yeah, it was five hundred."

"You told me it was a thousand." The red headed girl said dryly.

"Well a grand total of a thousand," Usopp said nervously.

Luffy and Chopper both looked at the strong teen and said, "Awesome."

Nami snorted, Vivi giggled into her hand, while Sanji rolled his one eye that was not covered by his hair.

"Zoro!" Chopper jumped up as a green haired older teen entered the cafeteria, looking slightly disoriented, "Come sit with us."

The teen randomly grabbed items to put on a tray and made his way to where Chopper was frantically waving his arms back and forth.

"Oh," Sanji groaned, "It's him…" When the green haired teen sat down on the other side of Chopper, and across from Vivi.

"Shut up euro-cook." The newest member to the group at the table said to the blond.

"Did you sleep well?" Chopper asked, all concerned about the green haired guy.

All the new guy did was nod his head before absently eating his food.

Laughing, Luffy got up and took his tray back to the line where he shoved the trash in a trash can while putting the tray on top of it, he would like these people; they were fun. Usopp was trailing him and asked, "What is so funny?"

"I think I will get better here."

"You never did tell me what you were in here for." The long nosed teen said as they headed out of the cafeteria with all the others eyes watching as they left.

"I am crazy; some people think that I will be an arsonist when I get older, even though I really don't like fire." Luffy laughed once more.

"You can join my gang if you want."

"Nah," Luffy laced his hands behind his head, under his straw hat that he wore everywhere, and added, "I think I will form my own gang."

"You can't do that."

Looking at the other teen, Luffy asked, "Why not?"

"Because I am the leader of this place." Usopp said as they were walking down the hall.

"Oh well…" Luffy grinned, "say, where do we go now?" he changed the subject, "Last night when they took me to my room, they said I would find out after breakfast."

"Well for now we go to the tangerine room for group therapy. At least I do, if you want to stick with me you can."

"You know what?" Luffy said as they headed towards the tangerine room, "You remind me of someone."

"Do I?" Usopp was intrigued, "Who?"

"Don't know." Luffy shrugged his shoulders.

"Then how can I remind you of someone?"

"You just do."

"Oh…" Usopp opened the door to the tangerine room and groaned, in the room was already two strong looking guys that were sitting in the semi-circle of chairs. "Don't mess with them." He softly told Luffy.

"Why?"

"Shh," Usopp reprimanded, "Keep it down, they are mean."

"Who are they?"

"Well if it isn't Usopp…" the dark haired man stood up, he was tall and slender in a sinewy way like a cat almost. His hair was wavy, lightly touching his shoulders, with a black matching goatee. His large black top hat making him seem even taller, he was dressed all in black, same as his friend. "Go ahead and have a seat, we will let Nico Robin know her group has started to arrive." With that said, he headed out of the room, followed by his companion who made Luffy think of a giraffe.

"That was Rob Lucci, head of security here; nothing gets past him, and his subordinate; Kaku." Usopp said as they disappeared down the hall. "I wonder why they were in here. Both of them give me the creeps." Sitting as far away from where the two had been sitting earlier as possible, while watching the now open door.

Within a minute, Nami and Sanji entered. She headed straight for Usopp quietly asking, "Did you see them?"

"They were in here when we got here." Usopp informed her, acting all brave, "I scared them away though."

She looked at him skeptically.

"What?" Usopp asked indignantly. "I did scare them away, didn't I Luffy?"

"Why does this place need security anyway?" Sanji mumbled as he sat down on the other side of Nami.

"To keep the other people out." Nami stated.

"To keep us in." Usopp said. "This is a government run loony bin."

"Damn government," Sanji mumbled, "Making me stay here against my will. Can't even have a damn cigarette."


	3. Stirrings

_**A/N:**Thank you so much for the reviews, alerts and fave's. I love you all, this story is going to be a long one and everything will be revealed in time. The main pairing will be ZoLu with other pairings as they develop. _

_Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece, I do own the DVD's and games and manga though._

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Within ten minutes, everyone was sitting around in chairs, in walked the therapist that was in charge of the group. Sanji fawned over her, and then quickly looked at Nami and asking, "Are you jealous Nami-swan?"

Nami made a snorting sound, and bluntly said; "Nope!"

Everyone that was within hearing, chuckled.

"Now listen up," the dark haired woman who had entered said, interrupting the snide retort that Sanji was about to make at mainly Zoro. "We have a new resident, so I want everyone to introduce yourself and give a brief description about who you are and what you want from being here. I will start; hello, my name is Nico Robin, I have worked here for four years, and I want to be able to help people. Everyone just calls me Robin."

To her left was Vivi; "Hi, we sort of met in the cafeteria; my name is Nefertari Vivi. I like to race my horse; Carue. My father's friend tried to kill me and so I ended up in here. I expect to be able to sleep better at night, instead of waking up with nightmares."

Next was Nami; "My name is Nami; I got put in here for being a cat-burglar. I just want to get out of here okay?"

"I am Sanji; some think that I have anger issues," he glared at both Usopp and the green haired teen. "All I want is to marry the lovely Nami-swan."

Nami snorted and made a waving gesture of her hand and said, "In your dreams Sanji-kun." Her tone of voice was sweet, yet it held a touch of determination in it.

"I'm Tony-Tony Chopper. I was told I have issues with being abandoned, all I want is to be a doctor one day." Upon closer look, the young boy had a slightly blue tinged nose. Luffy wondered if he was alright. "I have been here over a year because my grandfather died and my only living relative is my great, great grandmother."

A short boy sat next to him, he had pink hair that looked as if it had been cut with a bowl. When he spoke, Luffy had to strain his ears to hear him; "I am Koby. My guardian put me in here when I tried to run away. All I want is when I leave here, to be able to join the navy."

"Helmeppo," the boy sitting next to Koby said, "I don't care why I am here, I just want to leave."

Koby patted the blond boy on the shoulder, and said, "It's okay…"

The two looked at each other and then the green haired teen next to them cleared his throat and spoke, "Roronoa Zoro." Everyone looked at him, waiting for him to continue, "What?" he asked as he noticed everyone looking at him. "Nothing more to say."

Robin nodded her head and jotted on a piece of paper, "Usopp, you are next." She said once she was done writing.

"I am the mighty Usopp, I have legions of followers, my goal is to go back to my nakama and lead them to countless victories."

"Can I be one of your nakama?" Both Chopper and Luffy jumped up excited at the prospect of a grand adventure where they would have countless victories.

"Sure!" Usopp enthused.

"Luffy," Robin gently prodded, "It's your turn."

Luffy looked at her quizzically, "What do you mean?"

"Tell us who you are and why you are here and if you can think of what you want out of being here." Sanji told the straw-hat teen.

"Oh yeah…" Luffy stood up, "I am Monkey D. Luffy. I am here because I have dreams; I want to stop having these dreams; that is what I want."

"Everyone dreams." Usopp said.

"Not like I do."

"What makes your dreams so special?" Helmeppo asked.

"They just are okay?" Luffy said decisively.

"Tell us one." Usopp begged.

"Well the one I had last night was about a skeleton."

"A skeleton?" Nami asked with trepidation.

"Yeah, he danced on water." Luffy explained, "I remember he was playing a violin and as I was about to reach him, someone took him apart piece by piece."

Nami shivered, "Good riddance."

"Don't say that," Luffy was mildly upset, "He was my friend."

"How can you be friends with a skeleton?" Usopp asked.

"I don't know," Luffy was thoughtful for a moment, "Maybe we were friends before he turned into a skeleton."

"What happened after that?" Koby asked, wanting to hear more of this strange boy's dream.

"Well after his bones were taken apart, they were put in a barrel of water, which was then sealed and tossed into this volcano."

"Morbid dreams…" Usopp said while a shudder went through him.

"Yeah I know…" Luffy was thoughtful for a moment then as if he was a total different person, he said, "Well that is that."

"So do you dream every night?" Sanji asked.

"Yeah, I am always looking for someone or something when I dream." Luffy shrugged his shoulders and added, "Don't you think those dreams mean something?"

"How long have you been having these dreams?" Robin asked as she was jotting something on her notebook.

"All my life." Luffy admitted.

The room was silent as the words sank in, soon the introductions continued; none of the others had that interesting of tales, so Luffy tuned them out. One though seemed vaguely familiar, his name was Trafalgar Law. He didn't speak much and just watched everyone.

By the time that the introductions were over, Robin stood up and said; "You can all go to the common room till lunch, after that is exercise in the gymnasium, then music appreciation in the reflections room. I will see you all later."

"Come on Luffy," Usopp said as he stood up. "I will allow you to hang around with me."

Grinning, Luffy got up and followed Usopp out the door, they headed past all the cubicles that they slept in, as they passed Luffy's he noticed someone had cleaned it up. At the end of the hall was a large common room that had a TV hanging behind a barred opening in the wall, in an attempt to keep it safe from raging teens who might possibly try throwing the chairs that were bolted down to the floor into it, or God forbid, each other.

Usopp led Luffy to a square table off in the corner of the room; even those chairs were bolted to the ground. "Do you like to play cards?" Usopp asked as he picked up a deck of cards.

"Sure, just don't try to cheat." Luffy said as he sat down. "My cousin Sabo used to cheat all the time, Ace and I learned how to tell when someone tries to cheat."

"Uh… then how about we play go fish?" Usopp swallowed nervously.

"Can I play too?" Chopper asked.

"I don't mind," Usopp said, "the more the merrier, as they say."

"I never heard that one." Luffy said thoughtfully.

The three of them played go fish, by the end of the game they realized that the seven of diamonds and the king of spades were missing; also it only had one joker.

"Lunch time." Sanji told them as he headed out the door.

"About time." Luffy complained as he got up, running out of the room and down the hall, nearly tripping over the blond teen.

"Idiot…" Sanji grumbled as Luffy barreled past him. "I hope you get in trouble."

"Sanji just needs a cigarette." Usopp said next to Luffy as they slid into the cafeteria in record time.

"He can't smoke in here?" Luffy asked as he piled his tray high with food.

"Nah, one of the rules, no smoking allowed." Usopp looked shocked as he noticed how much food Luffy had on his tray. "Do you have enough food there?"

"You mean I can get more?" Stars seemed to be in his eyes, and he added, "If I had known that I would have had more for breakfast too since they didn't give me any brunch."

"Never mind," Usopp chuckled, "Let's start eating so that you can get your seconds."

They sat at the table closest to the food, and all the while the others came in, grabbed their tray and put food on it, Luffy eyed the remaining food to make sure he would be able to get more. Sanji, Nami, Vivi, Chopper and Zoro once more ate with them.

After he had gone back for seconds, Luffy looked at Chopper who was sitting across from him, "Why do you wear that pink hat all the time?"

"Why do you wear yours?" Chopper said defensively.

"Don't know…" Luffy seemed to be puzzling over this when the others started to leave, having had their fill with just one serving. "I don't even remember where I got it; all I know is I like it."

"Well same here." Chopper said, "It suits me."

Luffy grinned charmingly at the boy, "Then you must be like me, once you like something, nothing will tear it away from you."

"You three are going to be late." Nami said as she left the table after Sanji had taken her tray.

Chopper was next to leave chasing after Nami and Sanji, "Wait up…" he called out to them.

Luffy and Usopp went out at a leisurely pace, each one rubbing his own belly, "Ah," Luffy commented, "that was a good meal."

"Yeah they fixed it just like I taught them." Usopp added.

They walked in companionable silence to the gymnasium. The doors were open and the others were already doing various exercises. Luffy and Usopp headed over to where they had space to work out too.

Absently, Luffy started stretching, as he did so the others slowly stopped what they were doing to watch. "What is it?" Luffy asked.

A large blue haired man approached Luffy and whistled, "That is some super stretches."

"What do you mean?" Luffy asked as one of his legs was currently being stretched behind him, and up by his neck.

"You must be real flexible to be able to do that." The man was saying, "I am Franky, I run this area. You must be the new guy. Luffy, right?"

"Yeah." Luffy said, wishing the others would not stare at him so intensely.

"Super!" the man struck a pose with his arms together and his two blue star tattoo's on his forearms joined together to look like one hooting star.

Collectively, Luffy could hear the others moan at the pose. Luffy though was overcome with awe for the man, "Wow…"

"Get back to what you were all doing." Franky said while walking away from Luffy, pleased that Luffy had been impressed.

Noticing that Usopp was looking at him funny while slowly edging away from him, Luffy asked, "What's the matter Usopp?"

"Uh I think I heard Nami call for me to help her."

"What are you talking about?" Nami also had heard Usopp.

"Oh, okay." Luffy said.

Once Usopp had went to stand by Nami while whispering something to her, Chopper and Law approached the still stretching teen.

They both watched Luffy as if he were a lab specimen, Law even went as far as to poke and prod Luffy while no one was looking.

If they were this impressed about the way he could stretch, then if they ever saw his sisters they would think he was from the circus or something. His oldest sister, who everyone called Boa, had taught him that just because he was a boy didn't mean he too couldn't do gymnastics. She had even encouraged him. In a weird way she was his personal cheerleader, professing that no male or female for that matter, could dare to compare to him.

He just decided to ignore the others as he did amazing acrobatic feats that had the guys in the room wanting to protect what was between their legs and had the girls somewhat envious over his flexibility.

Growing bored of it all, Luffy saw something that looked a little like ropes coiled up. Heading over; he started to untangle them. Pulling and tugging on them to try to get the knots out of it, when he heard a voice yell his name.

"Luffy!" Turning, he saw Franky, the large man was as pale as a ghost and was staring in horror at the ropes in Luffy's hands, "That is not super! Someone could get electrocuted with those."

As if it were a snake, Luffy dropped them, his jaw going slack somewhat as the smell of flesh being hit by thousands of volts of electricity teased his memory. Which he thought was strange considering he had never witnessed something like that.

"Everyone is dismissed," Franky was visibly shaking as he ushered all of them out the door. Grabbing his cola and locking the door once they were all out.

"Smooth move there Luffy." Sanji commented as they all walked down the hall, "I was getting tired anyway."

"Ha!" Zoro commented, "I could have trained all night."

"In your dreams, moss head."

"Want to try it in the common room? I can beat your ass." Zoro snidely said to the blond.

"Will you two knock it off?" Nami got behind both of them and punched each one in the back of the head to shut them up.

"Damn woman." Zoro grumbled while rubbing his head.

"Don't talk about Nami-swan that way, shitty wanna be swordsman." Sanji took offense at the tone of Zoro's voice and his choice of words.

"Will you two idiots just both shut up?" Nami pushed them apart from each other and walked past them.

Luffy chuckled to himself as he too passed the bickering duo. In all honesty, he would have liked to see them fight, he wondered which one would win, Sanji was thin and agile, making him obviously quick on his feet, and Luffy already knew that he used his legs as a weapon. Zoro on the other hand was in optimum form, his muscles honed to perfection, and was handy with the three wooden swords that were strapped to his waist that he had not taken off when they had been told to leave the gymnasium.

It would most likely have to wait, Luffy thought as Franky ushered them all into the reflections room, where a small stage was at the center of the room. Up on the stage a large black grand piano and some other various instruments waited, indicating that the 'reflections' intended in this room must be of a musical nature.

Luffy was about to ask what they were waiting for, when up on the other side of the stage a door opened and out stepped a very tall thin older man holding a violin, with the afro on top of his head, he looked out of proportion, yet to Luffy he seemed very familiar. "Wow…" Luffy said out loud, "He looks just like the skeleton from my dreams."


	4. Visitors

_**A/N: **I am sorry for the slight delay in updating this... standard disclaimer applies, I don't own anything other than my imagination on this story. Thank you for the reviews and fave's... they make my day._

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Only Chopper, Nami, and Law heard what Luffy had said. And they all looked at Brook as he made his way to them.

"Good Afternoon." He spoke very eloquently, "Shall we begin our reflections? Wait, where are my manners? You would think that I would remember," he faced Luffy, "Allow me to introduce myself, Yohoho…"

"Brook…" the name was whispered in Luffy's mind moments before the man actually spoke.

"I… I…" Luffy stammered, "Can I leave?"

The man tilted his head, and said; "Are you feeling unwell?"

"Uh… no…" Luffy truthfully said.

"Then you must stay, I insist, I may look like a skeleton, but you won't find anyone more friendly than me." He looked at Nami and Vivi and added, "Right ladies?"

Nami just shrugged her shoulders while Vivi laughed softly into her cupped hand, blushing slightly at the way he stared at her.

All Luffy could realize was that somehow Brook knew that Luffy had called him a skeleton, well he had to know by what he had said.

"Pervert…" Sanji mumbled only loud enough for the few around him to hear.

"Look who's calling the kettle black." Zoro dryly said.

Still feeling uncomfortable, Luffy slowly backed away, bumping into a solid firm chest. "Oops, sorry." He said to Zoro.

Moss green eyes gave Luffy a glance while nodding his head.

Now this teen was someone that inspired confidence within Luffy and gave the younger teen a reason to stay. Nothing would frighten him, Luffy thought, not even a man who somehow looked like a skeleton from a dream, and somehow Luffy had known the name of him.

Zoro was nodding off within five minutes of Brook starting to play the violin. Others were paying rapt attention to the music, Luffy included, when the soft snores alerted Luffy that the teen sitting on the bench next to him had fallen asleep. Something else bothered Luffy; he couldn't put his finger on it though, so he just shrugged it off.

As soon as the song ended, Brook looked at all the faces and said, "Okay, now everyone can either draw or write down your personal reflections while Iceburg-sama confers with each of you in turn. So when your name is called go to his office."

"Where is his office?" Luffy asked, "And who is this icy guy?"

Brook smiled at Luffy and pointed to the door he had previously used to join them, "Right through that door is his office, and Iceburg is the head therapist. Back in the old days when this used to be called Water Seven, he and Franky grew up here, with Tom in charge back then. Now that Tom is retired, they had to sell it for the medical bills that were piling up from his cancer treatments."

"Is that when the government took it over?" Sanji asked.

Brook nodded his head and stepped back up on the stage, while a pretty blond lady called them back to see Iceberg, one by one. Each little interview lasted no more than ten minutes, and soon Luffy found himself following the lady through the door and making his way to a chair in front of a desk.

"Hello Luffy," a blue haired man said from behind the desk. "You can call me Iceburg, everyone does. Now how is your first day going?"

"I guess okay," Luffy said, while swinging his legs back and forth.

"Don't be nervous or shy with me. I won't bite you."

Luffy looked away from him and glanced at the blond sitting next to the door writing on a piece of paper.

"Ah… Yes, Kalifa just might bite you if you get too close to her."

It had been said to put Luffy at ease, it only made him wonder just what kind of person the woman was, he noticed that as she was being talked about by her boss, she just calmly sat there and occasionally scooted her glasses back up her nose.

"Well never mind my secretary," Iceburg said, forcing Luffy to look back at him with his words. "Did you dream last night?"

"Yeah."

"Would you like to share your dream with me?"

"I don't remember much of it now, all I know is it had a skeleton and he was tortured in front of me." It was true, the later in the day it got, the less he remembered about the dream.

"Well, I think you should start a dream journal," the immaculately dressed man was saying as he pulled out a notebook and handed it to Luffy. "Here you can use this, that way when you wake up from one of your dreams, you can write it down in here. I think if you do this, we can analyze them and they will start to fade away."

Luffy only nodded his head as he took the notebook, he was not too sure about it, yet he was willing to give it a try.

"I'll see you again tomorrow, okay Luffy?" the man indicated the door, "In about ten minutes you and the others can go eat. Have a nice evening."

Luffy left, carrying the notebook under his arm, out in the reflections room once more, he sat down next to Zoro; noticing the green haired teen was now awake.

"So you do swords huh?" Luffy asked the other teen.

Zoro looked at Luffy and nodded his head; he was not sure what to make of this young teen. Something within Zoro was drawn to him, as if Luffy was a bright star, and Zoro was a moth. He wanted to be near him, and it startled the young swordsman, he had never felt this intense about anyone before and he was not sure why he did now, or even what had caused this feeling.

As they all went to the cafeteria a few minutes later, Luffy walked between Zoro and Usopp. Usopp had forgiven him about his earlier flexibility, and was once more joking with the other teen.

While they ate, Luffy and Usopp became loud, arguing over a slice of apple pie. The cook, Zeff, nearly threw them both out without any pie. That was when the two decided that they would share it and each got another slice.

They all finished dinner and in twos or three's headed down to the common room. Luffy walking with just Usopp, he asked, "So what do we all do now?"

"Time for visitors." Usopp stated, "They can stay from six to seven. After that Iceberg sees the others that he didn't see earlier while the others watch TV or play lame ass games."

"Wanna play cards again?"

Usopp smiled, he had been acting when he had said lame ass games, for this was the best time of the day. "Sure."

They had barely started a new game of cards when the door was literally thrown open. In walked the most beautiful lady, she had a feather boa wrapped around her slender neck, and she looked around the room searching for someone. "Luffy sweetheart…" her voice seemed to scream into the silent room. All eyes except for Luffy's were trained on her lovely body.

"Ugh!" Luffy barely had time to catch his breath as he was pulled into her embrace; his head nestled between her ample bosom.

"Luffy-kun…" her voice purred into his ear, soft and loving, like a gentle caress. "I have missed you; I couldn't sleep last night without you coming to my bed."

"Hmph… Ungh…" Luffy's voice sounded like it was far off in the distance, being muffled as it was.

As it was, she was kissing him everywhere and all Luffy could do was laugh.

All eyes were on the loving reunion between the two, most of the people wondering how it was this teen managed to have a beautiful woman as a lover.

Zoro looked away, for some unknown reason, the thought of Luffy and this woman together bothered him. And when things bothered him like this, he left. So standing up, he headed out of the room, not wanting to watch as the woman; who obviously adored Luffy; smothered him with kisses and complaining about having to sleep alone.

Pulling free from her, Luffy said, "Boa! I have only been gone one day."

"I know, it's just so lonely though without you." She complained in a childish way. "Without my baby sleeping peacefully next to me."

"You never said you had an older woman for a girlfriend." Usopp said next to Luffy.

"Girlfriend!" Luffy nearly choked on the word, "She's my oldest sister."

Boa looked at Luffy and made a reproachful sound from her slender throat. "Oh Luffy, stop reminding me."

"It's true…" Luffy said as Boa led him to a sofa where they could have some privacy, still all the others watched them. All of them except for Koby and Helmeppo. To Luffy's amazement, they were sitting together on a recliner, Koby sitting on Helmeppo's lap while they were kissing one another.

"Now Luffy," Boa was saying, "I brought you a bento." She pulled out a large box from the folds of her dress, "I made it special just for you."

"Thanks Boa…" Luffy hugged her and started to eat the food she had prepared for him.

"This place is so dreary." She complained, "Why don't you come home with me now?"

"I need to get better." He said between mouthfuls of food.

"How can you get better in a place like this?" her tone was decisive as she added, "You can sneak out in my dress." She opened it up to reveal how much space it had for him to sneak out with her. He could just see it now, he would be cramped up in her dress, and sure enough, someone would catch them. Then they would really question the relationship he had with her.

To be honest with himself, he adored his sisters just as much as they adored him, the only problem was, they were a little overbearing at times. Mainly Boa.

She was the only sister that still stayed at home. She refused to move out as long as Luffy was still living there. When he had been born, she was the one that had taken care of him, she was the one that he ran to at night when terror filled him and a deep ache seemed to encompass his entire body.

"I don't want to leave here."

"What! Why not?"

"I need to get better." He said firmly. "I told you already, as long as I am having these dreams, I will stay here."

"What can they do for you that I cannot do?"

"Boa…" Luffy nearly pleaded, "It is something that I have to do. If not I think it will kill me."

She took him in her arms then and he could feel the tears slide from her smooth skin down on to his own skin. "I wish I could help you instead of these… these… these strangers."

"You do help me," Luffy said cheerfully, "You are always here when I need you, and you are allowing me to stay here so I can get better."

She gasped at his words, then she seemed to be deep in thought as she let him go, leaning back on the sofa, she said, "What will your father say when he finds out you are here?"

"He won't." Luffy said decisively, "The only way he can find out is if someone told him, please Boa, don't tell him."

"He might find out from these people."

"How?" Luffy quietly asked, "They would first need to know who he is and how to contact him."

She gasped and covered her mouth, "If they ever found out whom he is, they might kill you. This is a government facility after all."

"The people here are nice." He said defensively.

Boa looked around the room for the first time since her arrival practically. She noticed that everyone seemed to be staring at her and Luffy. If looks could turn someone into stone, then all the people in the room would be stone. "Pathetic," she mumbled, "They are not worthy of you."

Luffy shook his head, "I think they are. Come on Boa, why don't you meet them?"

"I did not come here to visit them; I came here to visit you. You think I will waist what little time I get with you talking with other people?" She looked shocked at the very notion.

"Fine," Luffy knew when to let something go that was beyond his control, and with Boa, most things were way beyond his control. "So how is everyone at home?"

"Marigold is upset with you, she called me this morning and told me to try to get you to come home, I swear, you would think that she was the oldest, talking about honor and what will the others think if they find out you are in an institution." All the while she was speaking; her hand was absently trailing through his unruly black hair, being one of the only people he allowed to take off his straw hat. "Sandersonia said that she would come with me once she found out if she could bring Bacura with her. Some rude woman told me that pets were not allowed, and most definitely not a full grown black panther, the woman was most assuredly rude. As it is Salome is out in my car, the poor thing."

"What about Marguerite?" Luffy asked about his sister that was only a year older than he was.

"She doesn't know you are here," Boa shook her head sadly, "I tried all morning while waiting in the lobby to call her and she wouldn't answer."

"You have been here since morning?" Luffy laughed, "Why?"

"You are my sweetheart, no way would I leave while you were here."

Luffy chuckled and said, "You do know that you are going to have to leave here fairly soon?"

A sad crestfallen look washed over her lovely face, "Don't torment me Luffy…"

Shock filled Luffy's face as a realization hit him, "You left Salome out in the car all day?"

The older woman looked mortified at his words, "You think I am heartless? We waited in the grass by the car till I was able to see you. He knows you are in here, and he wants to see you too."

"Maybe you could sneak him in tomorrow?" Luffy pleaded with her. "Please!"

"That is why I want you to come home with me now. If I try to sneak him in and somehow they find him, don't you think the government is looking for him? They would take him away from me, and you did get him for me."

Luffy was about to say something when the doors opened and Iceburg walked in. "Visiting time is over." He informed the room, even though the only visitor was Boa.

Boa hugged Luffy one final time before standing up, "Think about what I said, I will be back tomorrow, and if Marguerite wants to come with me, I will bring her."

"Oh yeah," Luffy's voice was somewhat muffled, "try to get ahold of Ace and let him know visiting hours; I don't think he was paying much attention last night when he brought me."

She kissed the top of his head and tried to drag him out the door with her, "I will." She said as Luffy untangled himself from her clutches.


	5. Binks Sake

_**A/N: **Generic disclaimer applies... Don't own, don't sue... all I own is this plot, which is being supplied to me by my fickle muse. Thank you for the lovely reviews, alerts... etc. etc._

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"Yohoho…" Luffy heard the sound in his head drifting off to sleep.

Looking around, he knew he was still in the institute sleeping; yet he was also on a ship. The ocean was calm and he saw people walking around, yet he couldn't see their faces. The smell of something cooking was drifting over to him, and he decided to follow the smell, only to have a swift hit on the head for his troubles.

"How soon till we get to Laboon?" a voice asked from behind him.

Looking over his shoulder, he saw Brook, "Not long now." He grinned at the skeleton.

Everything started to fade, and Luffy was in darkness for a few seconds. When the darkness slowly ebbed away, he could hear the sounds of a fierce battle taking place. His ship was on fire, it was as if someone had poured molten lava onto it, the heat was more intense then the hottest fire Luffy had ever felt, except that time with Ace… It was as hot as that time, his mind froze momentarily as he tried to remember what he had meant about Ace, it was as if a blank had been drawn in his mind and he couldn't remember why it was so important.

Voices yelling around him, one was shouting that they had to save the Thousand Sunny, another was shouting about how it had been possible that the Marines had found them so quickly… on and on the voices went until it all seemed that the sounds were all merging.

Slowly this scene faded from him, only to be replaced with another one, even more disturbing. Something within him was stirring as he watched his nakama slowly be captured; one by one the vast horde of military might captured them, till it was only him left unshackled.

Each time though that he defeated someone, trying to get to his nakama; two took the place of the fallen, slowly wearing him down till he was spent. With a groan, Luffy sank down on his knees. His last thought was for his nakama, he should have made them leave him after attaining his own dream five years ago, instead of letting them continue on with him.

Once more the scenery had changed, he was chained to a wall with sea stone. Making him feel weak and vulnerable. In front of him was Brook; he was softly singing Bink's Sake. He too was chained, only thing was he was slowly being torn apart, limb by limb, his bones were being taken to a metal grinder and being reduced to dust that was placed inside a sea stone crate. Even though his skull was still singing, Luffy knew that the pain must be unbearable.

"Brook…" he barely whispered, his voice seemed to be husky with pent up emotion.

He desperately pulled on his tethers, trying to break free. The skeleton looked at him as his skull was being led to the grinder and said; "It has been a pleasure following you on our adventures, thank you Luffy for letting me reunite with Laboon… Yohoho…"

"BROOK!" Luffy yelled with panic and sadness mingled in his voice. This is not happening, he told himself, this is only a dream, one in which I will wake up from and have all his crew back along with the ship. "Brook… Brook…"

"Yohoho…" the sound was echoed throughout the square that all the spectators had fallen silent in as Luffy had screamed.

Someone was shaking him, which was what made his scream stop. Clawing at the person, he said, "Brook… where is he?"

"As far as I know, that skinny ass skeleton is at his own home sleeping." Franky was the one that was shaking him, behind him was Iceburg and a few guards.

"Which is what you should be doing." The large guard nearly yelled it.

"Paulie, take Tilestone back to the front desk. I don't think we need you two here." Iceburg quietly said as he leaned against the wall next to the small dresser.

Once the two guards were gone, Franky snorted and said, "If Luffy here hadn't woken everyone up with his screaming for Brook, then Tilestone just now did."

Iceburg didn't say anything as he looked at Luffy, then he quietly said, "Tell me what your dream was about."

It was all still fresh in his mind and with a little caution, he said; "I saw Brook being killed, he was tortured first, others were in the dream. I couldn't see them though, I did hear them sometimes, and I remember a voice saying we had to flee or else end up sinking like the Thousand Sunny."

"Who told you that name?" Franky demanded.

"Luffy," Iceburg calmly said, "How did you know about the Thousand Sunny?"

"Yeah," Franky seemed upset, "Only Iceburg and I know about it."

Luffy looked between them and realized he had said something that they both knew about, "It was the ship in my dreams, it was engulfed in flames though and sank in the ocean."

"I built that ship two years ago," Franky said, he was looking at Luffy like he was a monster, "It is not sunk."

Luffy didn't know what to say, so he just kept quiet. Wishing that Boa was here so that he could sneak into her bed and be reassured that everything would be okay.

Iceburg though was looking at Luffy with concentration, earlier when the screams for Brook had echoed in the building; he had thought that something bad was happening. Some of the other patients had even opened their doors, looking around the halls wondering who it was that was screaming at three in the morning. Maybe he should give the boy a sedative, he thought.

"So how did you know about my ship, boy?" Franky asked.

Luffy shrugged his shoulders and looked away.

"Leave him be, Franky." Iceburg said, "Starting tomorrow I will give him a sleeping pill to help him sleep." To Luffy he added, "For now if you want to get up you can, I want you to write down everything from your dream in your journal though; you need to work on resolving them so that they no longer trouble you."

Luffy reached under his pillow where he had stashed the notebook that Iceburg had given him earlier. Absently taking the pen that the man handed him.

He was so busy writing all the details down that he didn't notice the other two leave.

Franky was a little disturbed about what the seventeen year old wisp of a boy said, once they were heading down the hall he asked his brother, "So how in the hell would that kid know about my ship?"

Iceburg raised one eyebrow and would have said something if one of the other patients doors hadn't swung open in front of them. It was Sanji, "What the hell is going on here tonight? That new kid disturbed my sleep."

"As if you sleep," Franky said.

"Go back to bed Sanji," Iceburg said, "Everything is being taken care of."

"Hmm…" the blond went back to his room and slowly closed the door. Soon enough he would make his way to the kitchen to help Zeff make breakfast.

"So do you think that kid is psychic?" Franky asked as they once more walked down the hall.

"Sanji?" Iceburg asked evasively.

"Damn it Iceburg, you know who I mean, that Luffy kid." Heading into the offices, Franky said, "He kind of creeps me out."

"Aahhh…" Iceburg went by his desk and pulled out his pet mouse from the cage and put it on his shoulders, absently he rubbed its head as he thought how he would best talk to Franky about all this. Honesty would be the best way to go he decided and said, "I don't know, when his cousin brought him in, all I understood was that the teen was having problems with sleeping, I think it is more than that though. For the time being I think we should observe him and make sure that while he is awake we get him to start to remember his dreams. I think that is the key to helping him."

"Well, how should I help him then?" Franky sat down where hours ago Luffy had sat talking to Iceburg. "I am not good with the therapy part of this."

"Just watch him, and if he seems to be acting strange, document it. For some reason, the government seems really interested in him, and I want to know why." The man waved his hand dismissively at Franky and added, "Now go home and get some sleep, and just because you stayed to finish up your paper work, gives you no reason not to be here at one still."

"That was not anything I could control," Franky complained, "That kid you are so interested in freaked me out earlier with that electrical cord that is messed up, the one I have been trying to get you to fix for how long now?"

"You need to get over your fear of electricity Franky." Iceburg said as he followed him out the door. "All your life you had this fear."

"Maybe in a past life I died by electrocution." Franky joked with him, trying to get Iceburg to let the subject drop. Something within the large man though felt that he had it right, that in a past life he had experienced the way electricity coursed through his body. Shaking his head to dispel the feeling that settled on him, he added, "Well whatever the case, I will see you at one."

Leaving the institute, Franky headed toward his motorcycle; it was his pride and joy, he had spent an entire summer rebuilding it piece by piece. Everyone had thought that he should just buy a new one, yet this one was all him. He had put more than money and physical labor into it, he had put a piece of him in as well.

* * *

Sanji was sitting on his bed; once more reading one of Usopp's many manga's, this one was about a guy that wanted to be king of the pirates. His favorite character was the spunky cat burglar that was the navigator.

His big question was how could someone be 'king' of the pirates when everyone knew that pirates were no good, and if one was to be 'king' then he had to be feared and hated by all others.

Tossing the book on the bed, he went into the small bathroom to shower. Soon it would be four and Zeff would get there. It was his favorite time of day, helping the cantankerous old coot out and fixing breakfast. As he toweled off later, he wondered what had gotten into the new kid to make him scream so loud and call out for Brook of all people. He must really be crazy, he thought.

Once he was in the kitchen, he promptly forgot about Luffy's rude disturbance through the night and started to argue with Zeff while doing most of the prep for breakfast.

* * *

Usopp was not able to go back to sleep after Luffy had screamed; he was too worried about his new friend. Sure yesterday Luffy had sort of freaked him out with the unnatural way he could stretch his body, yet for some reason, he liked the other teen. In fact he had thought that if Luffy would ever join his 'gang' then he would make Luffy second in command.

Pepper, Onion, and Carrot wouldn't mind, they were only eleven after all, and all of them idolized him.

Sneaking out of his room about ten minutes after the hall was silent; he tiptoed across the hall to Luffy's room. Silently he opened the door; Luffy was sitting on his bed and just closed the notebook when Usopp entered.

"Uh," he said nervously, now that he was here, he didn't know exactly what to say, "are you going to be okay?"

The grin spread across Luffy's face and radiated in the entire room, it seemed as if the sun was shining just for the long nosed liar. "Yeah," Luffy said, "I just had a bad dream. Everything is fine now."

Usopp nodded his head and put his hand on the door, ready to walk out once more, when Luffy indicated the long nosed teen sit on the bed with him.

"Don't go…" Luffy said, Usopp could tell that the teen was still troubled, yet he was trying to hide it.

Sitting on the bed, Usopp asked, "Do you want to hear about my gang?"

"Sure."

"Well, Carrot is one of the guys in my gang, he is a good kid; one day when I got in trouble for something or other, he stuck up for me. Pepper looks like a bell pepper, well his hair that is. Onion is a little quiet considering all the others, he tries to sooth anyone that is hurt."

"So he is like a doctor?"

"No…" Usopp smiled at his new friend, "if someone is upset, he tries to sooth them so they don't fight."

"Who else is in your gang?"

"Countless others, in fact too many to name." Usopp said vaguely.

"So what do you all do?"

"We protect the weak and defenseless." Usopp puffed out his chest, "We have a rivalry with another gang, and we try to protect the normal citizens of the town from their cruelty."

"So your gang is a good one." Luffy stated, smiling as he said it.

"Yeah," Usopp agreed, "Do you want to join it?"

"No!"

"What? Why not?"

"I don't live by you."

"You could be an honorary member."

"I could." Luffy nodded his head in agreement.

"So you will join my gang?"

"Nope."

"I don't understand you." Usopp complained.

"I can't join your gang, even as an honorary member." Luffy sat up straighter, "I already have a gang."

"What! No way!" Usopp seemed shocked. "Tell me about it."

"Well," Luffy put his finger to his chin and looked up in concentration, "to begin with all my sisters and Ace are in my gang, Sabo used to be too till he died. You are in it, and so are the others that are in here with us."

"Me?" Usopp asked. "How is it I am in your gang?"

"Well we are friends now right?"

"Uh… yeah. I guess so."

"So that means you are part of my posse."

Usopp laughed and said, "What is it we do?"

"Have fun."

Usopp nodded his head, to him, Luffy was odd, yet he enjoyed the way the other teen just assumed that they were all some gang with the quest of having fun. Unbeknownst to him, tears were starting to form in his eyes. Even before his mom had died, Usopp hadn't been as easily accepted as Luffy was accepting of him. Something within him swelled up, not the fake pride that he used; it was more along the lines of being content, of finally finding his niche.


	6. Vanishings

_**A/N:** I am starting to have the plot develop in this chapter. Once more the generic disclaimer applies. Don't own... Don't sue. thanks for the alerts, reviews and all that, it helps me know that I am not the only one that likes this story, or if you don't like it, let me know that too... _

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Luffy and Usopp were once more the first ones into the cafeteria at six o'clock. Each one piling heaps of food on their trays.

They had just sat down when a perturbed voice reached them, "Was it just me, or did someone scream through the night loud enough to wake Zoro up?" Nami said to Vivi.

Glancing at the door, Luffy smiled and said, "Sorry…"

"Someone screamed last night?" Zoro seemed confused.

"Idiot…" Nami mumbled, "It was Luffy. Not me, so stop looking at me."

Zoro just shrugged his shoulders and proceeded to get his food. Sitting down across from Luffy, he said, "So you had nightmares?"

Luffy nodded his head, leaving it at that.

All Zoro did was nod once before he too let the subject drop.

"So what were the nightmares about?" Sanji asked as he ignored Zoro who had sat where he had wanted to, resulting in having to sit on the other side of Usopp.

"Just leave him alone." Zoro said.

Luffy looked grateful at Zoro before digging into his own food. He did not really want to talk about it; it was all too fresh in his memory.

"So other than the nightmares," Chopper said to no one in particular, "did everyone sleep well?"

"You're going to make a good doctor someday," Nami smiled at the youth.

"I am not happy you said that Nami." Chopper said while blushing and grinning from ear to ear.

"Oi, Chopper," Luffy interrupted, "Is it my imagination, or is your nose even bluer?"

Everyone looked at the young boy and nodded in agreement. "Are you okay Chopper?" Nami asked as she felt his forehead with the back of her palm.

Chopper looked down and barely loud enough for the others to hear, said; "I think that I have a skin disorder."

"I think it looks neat," Luffy said, "Can you turn my nose blue too?"

Chopper looked at Luffy as if he were seeing him for the first time. "You like it?"

"Yeah!" Luffy nodded his head.

"It does set you apart from everyone," Vivi added, "Distinguished."

"You are starting a new fashion statement." Nami smiled at the blue nosed boy.

Chopper started to blush from all the compliments his odd nose was causing; even Sanji said it highlighted Chopper's eyes. Making them seem to glow.

The talk soon led to various things, Nami and Vivi talking quietly so the others couldn't hear, occasionally glancing at Luffy or Usopp, making Luffy think he had something on his nose, so he kept rubbing it.

"You wanna turn your nose red Luffy?" Usopp joked when he once more saw Luffy wipe at his nose. "I get it, you are jealous of Chopper."

"Do I have a burger hanging out?" Luffy asked loudly, to which he heard the others all laugh.

"Idiot," Sanji said, "If you had a burger hanging out, we would tell you. So stop picking your nose."

Now that he had been told that, Luffy proceeded to pick it.

"The power of suggestion." Usopp laughed.

"Why are boys so disgusting?" Nami asked Vivi.

"You gotta love us though." Usopp said before Vivi could reply.

"Humph…" Nami got up and walked out, absently tossing her empty tray into the trash, which Sanji got out and put it where it went.

"What is her problem?" Usopp wondered.

"Girls are the ones that are idiots." Zoro commented.

"I bet you don't have a girlfriend." Sanji said as he rejoined them.

"Hell no," Zoro looked mildly disgusted.

"I have one." Usopp said.

"I don't believe you." Sanji dryly stated.

"I do, her name is Kaya. She is the smartest, richest and prettiest girl in town."

"And she likes you?" Sanji snorted, "Shouldn't she be in here then?"

Usopp proceeded to swat at the blond, and added, "She lost her parents a few years ago, her strange uncle takes care of her now."

"Why doesn't she ever visit you?" Sanji reasoned.

"You know how far I live from here?" Usopp stated, "It's not like we can travel here every day, she will probably come see me when she gets a chance, her uncle is pretty strict."

"What about you Luffy?" Sanji wanted to know, "Do you have a girlfriend or will your sister even let you have one?"

Luffy chuckled, "If I wanted one, she would probably let me. Boa is pretty possessive though, so I would have to make sure it was someone she approves of."

"Which means no one." Sanji commented.

"How did you know that is how Boa is?" Luffy said, amazement in his voice, "Are you espn thingy?"

"Don't you mean pms?" Zoro said under his breath.

"Yeah," Luffy said, "Are you a pms thingy?"

Sanji, Usopp and Chopper all looked at Luffy like he was loony, well considering he was in a loony hospital, Sanji thought, it all made sense now; why the hell would he be pms? What the hell was that idiot thinking?

"Uh… Luffy," Usopp said after a moment of silence, "I think you mean ESP."

"What can you expect Usopp, an idiot told an idiot to say pms." Sanji snorted.

Luffy just laughed and got up, "Whatever." He was just happy that these other teens were able to take his mind off of the dreams.

He smiled as he walked down the hall, Usopp running to catch up with him. "Luffy," the long nosed teen called after him, "wait up will ya?"

Deliberately, Luffy went slower, and soon Usopp had caught up with him, followed closely by Zoro and Chopper. Sanji had stayed in the cafeteria to start cleaning up. The four of them went into the room together, and when they went in, Luffy would have groaned, only a few seats were left, and none of them were by each other. Picking a spot by Law, Luffy didn't notice a certain blue haired girl sigh with exasperation as Zoro sat next to her.

Robin smiled as she walked into the room; she had been informed of the events from the night before. "Good morning."

Before she had even sat down, the door behind her swung open once more and in walked Sanji, he held a steaming cup of coffee for Robin. "Here you go, Robin, you forgot your coffee."

"Why thank you Sanji." She said as she took the coffee.

"Idiot love cook." Zoro said under his breath, the only ones who heard were Vivi and Nami; the former chuckled under her breath, and the latter glaring at the green haired teen.

Sanji sat down on the other side of Law and glared at Zoro for being lucky enough to sit between the two lovely ladies.

"Please, think of a flower, and tell me what it is." Robin stated as she sat in her seat. "Nami, you can start."

"Iris." Nami said.

"Very good, now what about the Iris do you like?"

Nami snorted, "I guess it just reminds me of my mom."

"Very good." Robin smiled, "Okay Zoro, tell me what flower are you thinking of?"

"Dandelion."

"Good, what about it do you like?" Robin interrupted the snort that came out of Sanji's mouth.

Zoro just shrugged his shoulders. Then as if a thought came to him he said, "I like to blow on it when it changes."

"Good reply Zoro. Vivi, what flower are you thinking of?"

"Boronia." A sigh escaped her as she thought of the Australian shrub that she loved.

"Wow," Robin nodded her head with approval, "you chose a unique one, can you tell us what it is you like? And how you came to know about it."

"It's a western Australia native that is beautiful in the spring; on one of our many trips to there, my father saw that I really liked it so he had some sent home so that it would bloom for me in the spring, it blooms with bright pink bell shaped flowers that I just love." Vivi smiled as she said this.

Robin nodded her head and added, "I love the fragrant smell of the flower. Okay, Chopper you are next."

"Sakura." Chopper's voice was small and timid as he admitted what his favorite flower was.

"The cherry blossom." Robin nodded her head with a smile just for the young boy. "What is it that you like about it?"

"It reminds me of my grandpa, he swears that they cured him of some mysterious disease as a young man. He had a lot of the trees as I grew up, and every spring we would go out and watch them bloom."

"Very good detail in your description Chopper." She looked next to Chopper and said, "Law, what about you?"

"Tulip," Law said with a sigh, "I picked it because it was the first flower I could think of."

Robin nodded her head at him, "Luffy? What about you?"

"Thumper."

"Thumper?" Robin asked, all the others eyed him like he was crazy. Zoro just smiled though.

"Yeah, the rabbit from Bambi." He said it so serious that everyone's jaws dropped.

Chuckling lightly, Robin cleared her throat before saying, "Could you please think of a flower instead?"

Deep in thought, Luffy finally said, "A thistle, the only flower that made Boa upset with me, because when she stepped on it in the garden, I laughed. She didn't like it. Plus I think they are awesome, all pointy and prickly."

Robin nodded her head as she tried to hide her smile, "Okay then Sanji your turn to tell us what flower you are thinking of."

Sanji got down on one knee in front of Robin and held out his hand to her, "A rose by any other name would still smell the same. And you are as lovely as a rose."

Zoro snorted while Nami and Vivi oohed and aahed. Usopp tried to stifle his laughter, yet that right after Luffy's thistle got him laughing.

Luffy looked at Sanji, wondering what it was about a rose that looked like Robin, "I don't get it," he blurted out, "Why do people always like rose's?"

Sanji gave Luffy a look that said he was thinking that the younger teen was an idiot, however he replied with a smile and said, "The way they look is more lovely than words can describe them, the elegance, the beauty all of it combined to captivate you and speak of romance."

"Love sick cook," Zoro mumbled, "all you think about is the opposite sex."

Sanji snorted at Zoro as he got back in his seat, "I think all you think about is the same sex."

"Whatever," Zoro let the complaint roll off him.

Before this conversation could get out of hand, Robin cleared her throat, affectively regaining Sanji's attention. "Koby, would you please continue?"

The light pink haired boy shyly smiled and said, "Orchid, the colors of it is amazing."

"Very good." Robin smiled at him.

Helmeppo put his arm on the shoulders of Koby and patted his head, "I like the Begonia. I just like the way they seem so delicate."

"So do I." Robin smiled at him, "Usopp, what about you?"

Usopp cleared his voice and said, "The one that you usually put with roses and such, something like baby's head or whatever they are called. I got some of those for my mom when she was sick."

"Baby's breath is what you mean Usopp." Sanji said.

"Oh yeah, those." Usopp nodded his head.

The few remaining people listed all sorts of flowers that Luffy had never heard of before. Some were exotic sounding names that he wondered where they originated from; others were ones that were vaguely familiar.

When Robin said they could leave, Luffy stretched his arms above his head and slowly walked out of the room; Usopp and Chopper hurrying to catch up with him. "What was all that flower crap about anyway?" Zoro said as they all headed to the common room.

"It wasn't crap." Sanji defended Robin.

"What was it then?" Zoro still wanted to know why they had to list dumb flowers.

"Enlightening." Sanji said matter of factly.

"That is bull shit," Zoro said as they walked into the brightly lit room.

"We all now know what everyone's favorite flower is," Sanji went to kick Zoro, the green haired teen easily sidestepped and pulled out his three wooden swords. "What are you going to do with those? Bludgeon me to death?"

"If you want." He put one in his mouth and got into a stance that had Luffy watching in awe.

"Break it up you two." A deep authoritive voice called from the door.

Looking over, Luffy saw it was those same two that had been in the room after breakfast the day before, Kaku and Lucci, if he recalled correctly.

Everyone seemed to be motionless as they headed into the room, wearily keeping an eye on them.

"Chopper," the one called Lucci said, "Come with us please."

"Why are you taking him again?" Zoro wanted to know.

"It's none of your concern." The dark haired man just glared at Zoro.

Chopper looked forlorn as he followed them out the door and down the hall. Curious, Luffy looked down the hall to see where he was being led to. The three of them went to a door that had a swipe card access and went through once Lucci had swiped his card and punched in some numbers, the door itself was unremarkable, yet Luffy could see the camera fixed on it.

"Why so much security for one door?" he asked.

Zoro shrugged his shoulders. Usopp pulled Luffy away from the door and said, "I think they are doing things that are illegal in there."

"Then why are we just standing here letting them do it to Chopper?" Even as he asked it, he knew that the others wouldn't reply.

The remaining of the time in the common room had everyone lost in their own thoughts. Even when they went to lunch, Chopper still hadn't returned, resulting in the others all keeping silent. Luffy went through the motions of eating, for the first time in a long time he was unsure what to do. He wanted to help the blue nosed boy, yet he didn't know what it was that he should be doing.

The rest of the day none of them seemed to want to communicate with the others, all of them kept looking around waiting for the return of Chopper.

Even Boa couldn't get Luffy to really open up, when she visited, he was just nodding his head in agreement with whatever she said, lost in thought about the missing boy. After she was gone, he saw Iceburg and was given a sleeping pill, which he hesitantly took. Then he was led back to his room and fell asleep almost instantly.


	7. Dreamscape

_**A/N:**The story is starting to get a little darker here, mentions of torture and character death; if this offends anyone, than you best not read any more. It is starting to detail how the crew members died. Also I am sorry that this chapter is so short. Thank you for the reviews so far, Normal disclaimer applies, Eiichiro Oda owns the wonderful characters. I just want to give to give them a twist._

* * *

He was hot; the blankets were tangled up around him. It felt as if he were floating, not sure where he was, he tried to look around and saw nothing. Wondering if his eyes were open, he poked them and flinched as his finger made contact with the sides of his eye. The air caressed his heated skin and felt good to him.

With this thought in mind, he slowly realized that he could hear voices. They were indistinguishable to begin with; he could only make out a few words here and there, nothing important. It was the voices that had him a little shocked, they were familiar, and he wracked his brain to figure out who they were, to no avail.

"Luffy…" the voice said near his ear, it was a soothing voice, one that he was intimately familiar with, yet he couldn't place who it was.

"Wha…" his own voice seemed to penetrate the fog that was encompassing him.

"Luffy…" the voice seemed to be more urgent.

"What?" he was starting to see, only faintly at first.

"Luffy… help me…"This voice was different than the other, it sounded childlike and vulnerable.

"Who are you?" he looked around and saw a deer wearing the pink hat that Chopper had been wearing earlier.

"Help… me…" the voice was coming from the deer.

"Chopper?"

"Hel…" the voice faded as well as the image.

Once more Luffy was plunging into the fog of nothingness.

Panic engulfed him, and a whimper escaped from his mouth. He tried to reach for something, anything. All his hands encountered was air.

He felt alone, he didn't like this feeling, it didn't frighten him, it just made him feel miserable.

"Idiot…" this voice … to Luffy it was on the tip of his tongue, in fact he stuck his finger in his mouth and tried to swipe at his tongue to get the name off of it. "Do whatever…"

An image was forming before him, it was a little burry, yet he recognized the blond that was standing in front of him, a cigarette dangling in his mouth. "San…ji?" his voice seemed to echo back at him.

"Watch…" the blond demanded from him, indicating the view that was starting to form.

"No… I don't want to." He tried to look away.

This time the person in front of him morphed right before him, "Luffy…" it was now Zoro, "Just watch."

"Why?" he looked at what Zoro was pointing at, wishing he could refuse, yet unable or unwilling to look away.

The sky slowly turned blue and Luffy could even see the few clouds that dotted the landscape. People were milling about, in various forms of entertainment. Luffy saw himself, shocked he watched as he was listening to a story about something he couldn't quite hear from someone that looked a lot like Usopp. Sitting next to him, looking at Usopp with a dreamy expression was a small reindeer, he had a blue nose and the pink hat perched on his antlers that Luffy had seen earlier. In his heart he knew this was Chopper. A deep sadness tried to engulf him as he watched the three of them laughing and joking about something.

He wanted this moment to never end, yet as the three of them were laughing about something Zoro jumped down from where he had been perched, watching both his captain and the horizon. He was motioning towards the horizon behind them and he saw a massive ship with the Marines logo on the sail approaching.

"Don't look away." The phantom Zoro softly said in his ear, sending shivers down his spine and making his heart beat just a little faster. He could even feel the hot breath on the nape of his neck as his first mate spoke to him.

He was slightly confused as he realized that he had thought of Zoro as his first mate. Even as he thought that though, the memory was slipping his mind and fading like dust in the wind. All he could think about was the scene that was slowly unfolding before his eyes.

Within moments the other ship was upon them, hooking the two vessels together. It seemed that thousands of men were battling, slowly overcoming the few men and women that were friends of his. When a man touched the smaller ship, Luffy felt the despair hit him as it seemed to turn into molten lava. He could feel the heat radiating all around him, it felt as if he would spontaneously combust also. Recalling haunting images of a man's fist going through someone that he loved, the man's fist was lava. In his rational mind he knew that was near impossible, yet that thought stuck with him.

All his muscles seemed to ache as he tried to get to his different crewmembers. Now that he was observing it all, he realized that nothing he could have done would have saved them. He watched as Usopp, Nami, Chopper, Robin, Brook, Franky, Sanji, and finally Zoro were all overcome; some of them being chained with sea stone handcuffs, the others with heavy chains. All of them were unconscious as Luffy watched them being dragged onto the larger ship only to disappear into the hold. Down on the burning ship, he saw himself; it was odd looking down on the scene. He felt as if it was all an illusion, even when he was chained down with the sea stone handcuffs he thought that it was far from over.

They hauled his body onto the other ship as the lava fire engulfed the smaller ship, making it seem like a Valkyrie funeral pyre. The ship didn't sink right away, it swayed as all the fire consumed it; attesting to the excellent wood that the ship had been built with. Tears welled up in his eyes as the ship slowly lost the battle as the sun was sinking over the horizon, in stark contrast to the sunset.

Once more the fog seemed to engulf him. This time he didn't fight it as it slowly dissipated to reveal Brook, the skeleton man was singing, even though his bones were being torn off. Luffy could feel the tears well up behind his eyes, he knew he couldn't do anything about what was happening, yet it didn't stop him from wanting to do something.

Once more he watched as his skeleton friend died before both his past and present eyes. Screaming in agony as he felt the life that had been so close to him fade.

"Luffy…" it was the voice of Brook, "…stop it…"

Looking around him, all he could see was the fog, yet the voice had been clear as day.

Slowly he calmed down and the fog once more started to show images, these ones were somewhat blurry, he couldn't quite make out what they were. He did notice blue hair though and shooting star tattoos on someone's arms.

"…Super!" he faintly heard. The voice was strong, yet he could tell it was hiding a pain more intense then imaginable.

"Franky…" as he spoke, the image formed and it was Franky. He was strapped down on a table with all sorts of gadgets hooked up to him.

Luffy looked more closely and realized that he could see that the man was slowly being tortured. Not in any normal humane way, he was slowly having his skin peeled off and having molten metal pour down on top of it. Who was cruel enough to do this? Luffy wondered as he searched the room for anyone that looked familiar to him, to no avail.

His cyborg friend smiled as the skin was peeled off of his face, his clear blue eyes locked onto Luffy's and then they slowly closed from the pain. A single tear slid down from Luffy's eyes; absently the young boy licked it off his upper lip as the scene began to unfold in front of him. Someone had grabbed two coiled cables and hooked them to the man, one on each hand. A sickening smell emerged from the man, to Luffy it smelled a little like burning flesh, like the time he had tried to cook and had ended up burning the food. He knew what it was as Franky convulsed, his eyes opening once more.

As the electricity coursed through the cyborg's body, the small amount of flesh that was still attached to him looked like it was being seared alive, the cooled off metal that had been poured on him conducting the current to every part of the man. He wanted to look away, he felt as if he would be sick, yet something within the dying man's eyes kept him looking. A rage built up within him directed towards the ones that were causing his friends to suffer so much.

"It needed to be done…" a voice calmly said next to him.

"Why did they torture them?" Luffy wanted to know. "Why?"

"To make an example of them."

"Example to who?" Luffy looked around for the other person with him, only to see no one there. The fog was starting to envelop him once more.

He felt exhausted; all he wanted to do was curl up and go to sleep. Yet he knew that he was already asleep, and that he could not escape this fog or the images that were slowly surrounding him.

He wasn't sure what was happening as he watched another scene slowly emerge from the fog; it looked like an animal was chained up to a platform. As the image started to clear, he realized that it was Chopper.

He wasn't even prepared as an axe was swung severing the head off of the deer. Luckily he realized that at least Chopper didn't suffer like Brook or Franky.

* * *

Chaos was supreme on the floor that night; Paulie was just about to go for his coffee break when the screaming started. It was almost animalistic in its nature, sending chills down his spine. It echoed down the halls waking everyone up that had been asleep.

Iceberg came running down the hall, followed closely by Franky. The two of them had just been getting ready to leave for the night.

"Is it him?" Franky asked as they rushed past a still startled Paulie.

All the other man did was nod his head as they threw the door open to reveal a struggling teen that was in the throes of some unseen terror.

They both reached for the teen that fought savagely to not be touched.

"Luffy," it was Iceberg who was talking, "wake up. You need to wake up." He grabbed the teen and pulled him into his arms. The teen continued trying to fight against the larger man, punching and shoving as the two brothers tried to calm the youth.

The screaming slowly faded, to be replaced by a wailing that seemed to come from the boy's very soul.

"He's not going to wake up." Franky stated. "Why not throw him in the shower?"

"I shouldn't have given him that pill."

Down the hall doors were slowly opening and heads were poking out to glance in the direction of the noise.

"Get him into solitary now." Iceberg handed the restless youth that had caused a dark ring to form on his eye, to his brother. "And stay with him. Don't let him hurt himself."

"So he can hurt me huh?" Franky dryly commented as he took the boy.

"He won't do you much damage." Iceberg said as he guided them down the hall to where the solitary room was, he unlocked it while Luffy was thrashing against Franky trying in his nightmare mind to get free of him, "The most important thing right now is to get him in here so that the others can get back to sleep, and to keep him safe."

Franky hated this room, it was padded so the sound would not get out, it just had a drain in the corner for relieving oneself of bodily functions, the entire floor was padded too, to prevent anyone using any type of means for self-harm. "Can't we just leave him here?"

"And when he wakes up, he will freak out." Iceberg handed a cell phone to his brother, "it is better this way, just call me when he starts to wake up and then we will do another evaluation on him."

Franky was tempted to say that he should be the one to stay instead, after all it had been Iceberg that had given the troubled teen the sleeping pill, he only nodded his head though. He knew that Iceberg would have plenty to do trying to calm all the other patients down after this outburst.

* * *

His heart was calming down, he could once more feel as if he was floating and not being weighed down by something that he couldn't name.

Calmness settled in around him and as if in the distance he could hear voices, he was not concentrating on them though so it was just white sound. Up ahead was a figure, someone was standing there watching him. The more he tried to focus on it, the more his vision blurred.

Jumping up, he woke up as a loud voice commanded him to remember.

Looking around confused, he saw Franky leaning against a wall, his arms were crossed, and he looked like he was inches from death by lack of sleep. When he went to speak, he realized that his throat was more than a little irritated, and his mouth was bone dry.

Franky held up his hand and indicated that Luffy should keep quiet, "With all the screaming you did, you should let your voice have a chance to heal first." When Luffy looked around, trying to place where he was, Franky added; "I brought you in here last night to let the others get some sleep. Let me call Iceberg and we can get out of here."

Looking around, Luffy noticed they were in a padded room. Everything seemed to glow with the whiteness amidst the harsh fluorescent lights; it even hurt his eyes a little.

It was then that he noticed that his leg was stretched at an odd angle, it looked like it was jelly, it didn't hurt though and eyes going wide, he glanced over at Franky and saw that he too had noticed. The phone dropping out of his hands to land softly on the padded floor between the two of them.


	8. Plans

_**A/N:** Thanks to the wonderful reviews, this chapter I am not too happy with. It didn't flow that well, yet it was needed for the story to progress the way it is heading. Some day I will revise it, right now though it will stay the way it is. Generic disclaimer applies... I only own this plot. I will try to update on or before Saturday every week._

* * *

Franky was still just staring at Luffy as Iceberg opened the door and walked in. Luffy was trying not to freak out about his leg and to play it down, trying to get it to go back to normal. However when he saw Iceberg, he looked up at him as if waiting for an explanation.

Iceberg didn't know that they were both in some mild form of shock, so he reached over and helped Luffy stand up. That was when he realized that the teen's leg had literally turned to jello. "Franky," the older man firmly said, "Grab his legs."

"This is not super." Franky grumbled as he lifted one solid leg and one rubbery feeling leg. He had so many questions that he wanted to ask, now would not be the best time though he knew.

"We will take him directly to my office," Iceberg said as they left the solitary confinement room, "All the other patients are in with Robin so let's hurry before she lets them out."

Franky knew it was so that they wouldn't see the rubbery teen being carried down the hall.

"I missed breakfast?" Luffy's voice was scratchy and barely above a whisper.

Iceberg nodded his head as they entered his office, he gently lowered the boy onto the sofa against the wall, for some reason he didn't want anyone to see the boy in this state. He knew if certain people saw him this way then the government would take him to do experiments on, just like they continued to take Chopper.

"Franky," he pulled his brother aside and said, "Go get him some food, and some change of clothes, he will stay with me till we figure out what to do."

"What about his sister?" Franky asked, "I know she waits down in the lobby all day for him."

Giving it a moment of thought, he slowly nodded his head, "You can send her up here. I think she might be able to help with this. Oh and one more thing, check to see if Chopper has returned from his time in the labs."

Luffy sat on the couch continuing to study his leg; he poked it, and moved it all around, trying to figure out what had happened. The feeling was slowly starting to return to the limb when his sister walked in, her snake coiled up around her neck.

"Luffy-kun." She pulled him into her arms and embraced him, the snake going once around Luffy's neck as a greeting. "What happened?"

Pulling away from her slightly, he indicated his leg. This was not the first time this had happened, she recalled, one other time he had a terrible dream and the next day his arm had been slightly rubbery. It had only lasted for about five minutes though and he hadn't been aware of it.

She settled him in her lap and lifted his leg, rubbing it in circular patterns so that the circulation slowly returned to it, "This is why I don't want you here." She softly complained while doing it.

"He had terrible nightmares last night." Iceberg sat in the recliner next to them while Franky busily got all the food on a tray for Luffy to eat. "He was screaming so loud that we had to put him in a confined room so the others could rest. Franky here stayed with him."

For a brief moment, Luffy thought that Boa would blow a fuse and lambaste them, but she closed her eyes and took a deep breath before saying a little too icily, "I think you need to let me take him home. Nothing you are doing is helping him, and he seems to have gotten worse."

Iceberg sighed, and softly said, "Normally I would agree, however he needs to get it all out, if he wants to go forward he needs to reopen whatever is haunting him emotionally and let it heal so that it will not affect him in the future."

"And how do you propose to do that? By making my baby brother have horrible dreams that haunt his every moment?"

"That is why you are here," Iceberg said calmly, "I want to have him stay with you at night here so that he feels the security of familiarity and during the day we can work on resolving his nightmares. I would also like to try hypnosis therapy with him. I think he has PTSD."

"What is that?" Luffy asked, proving to them that even though he had not been paying too close of attention that he had been paying some attention to the conversation.

"Post-traumatic stress disorder." Iceberg said, "I think it has something to do with a past life."

"Like reincarnation?" Boa asked while absently rubbing Luffy's hair while he slowly ate his food that Franky had placed on the tray in front of him.

"Yes," Iceberg said, "We need to start on it as soon as possible."

"What if that is not it?"

"Then hypnosis will help find out what it is."

"I don't think he should be hypnotized." Boa said decisively.

"Why not?" it was Franky that asked.

"I just don't okay?" she did not want to tell them that she was afraid they would find out who Luffy's father was. That just wouldn't do, them working for the government and finding out that Luffy's father was the famous terrorist that was wanted by the government. No, she thought to herself; that would not be good.

"Boa," Luffy pulled away from her, "I think I can do it."

"No Luffy, I will not allow it."

"What if you were here during all the sessions?" Iceberg asked her.

"You mean I could put a stop to certain questions?" she asked.

"Yes," he nodded his head, not sure why she would want to stop certain questions if it was all designed to help her troubled brother.

"Just let me do it Boa," Luffy pleaded; his voice still scratchy from the night of screaming he had done.

Boa looked at Luffy and slowly nodded her head, "On the condition that I am there for all the sessions and if I say to stop it, you do so."

Iceberg nodded his head, "Right now I just want Luffy to rest, you may stay with him in his room; we will bring you both some lunch shortly." He stood up and helped Luffy to his wobbly legs. "Do you think you can walk?"

Luffy nodded his head and leaning heavily on his sister, went out of Iceberg's office. Down the hall, he could hear the others all talking in the common room. Before he left the older men, he asked them, "What about Chopper? Is he back yet?"

Franky looked away before shaking his head no.

Once they were in Luffy's room, Boa held him on the bed, while soothing him into sleep.

He didn't know how long he had been sleeping, all he knew was his stomach was once more grumbling for food.

A soft laugh made him look over to where his sister was on the edge of his bed. "What time is it?" he groggily asked.

"Near seven p.m." She helped him sit up, "You slept all day, a few of your friends from here stopped by to see you. They wanted to make sure you were okay."

"Why am I so tired still?"

"I'm not sure." She stood up, "Let me go get you some food."

"I can go too. I want to see the others."

She helped him get up and let him lean on her arm as they went down the hall towards the cafeteria.

Sanji was the only one in the room as they entered; he was cleaning the mess from the others, while softly humming a song. When he noticed them, he stopped his humming and went over to where they had sat down. "What can I get for you two?"

"Soup and salad." Boa stated.

"Meat." Luffy said at the same time.

Once he had gotten them both some food, he sat down across from them and asked, "So how are you doing today Luffy?"

"I'm still tired." He admitted.

"You had us all worried." The blond brushed his bangs to the side, revealing only one eye.

"Sorry." Luffy mumbled.

"Don't worry about it, that's what friends are for after all."

Luffy nodded his head and smiled at the blond, he was glad that they considered him a friend as much as he did them.

"How is Chopper?" Luffy asked as he finished his meat and went to push his empty tray aside as he waited for his sister to finish her salad.

"He is still missing, that idiot Zoro wants to go look for him."

"So do I." Luffy felt excitement build within him.

Sanji harrumphed before saying, "I guess I will go look for him too, only because Nami and Vivi want to also."

"When?"

"If he is not back by tomorrow is what Usopp managed to get Zoro to agree on."

"How often do they take him away?" Luffy wanted to know.

"About once a week." Sanji took their empty trays to the trash and followed them out into the hall. "He always comes back the same day though, and this is the first time he has been gone so long."

"What is this all about?" Boa asked as they neared Luffy's room.

"The facility takes Chopper and they do certain things to him," Sanji explained. "When he comes back, he is always changed somehow."

"You mean they experiment on him?" Boa seemed mildly upset.

"Yeah." Sanji nodded his head.

"Luffy," she pulled on him to head toward the exit, "I want you to come home with me. I don't want you here."

"No," Luffy tried to get free of his sister. "I am staying here. Chopper needs me, along with the others."

"Luffy, you listen to me. I am your legal guardian; I want you to come home now."

"No." Luffy was able to break free of her hold, "and if you try to make me, then I will ask them to have you leave, and never let you back in to see me."

He could tell that she was torn between wanting to protect him and not being allowed to see him. Finally she nodded her head and said, "Fine, this once you win. Now come on, let's go back to your room."

"No, I want to go see the others." Instead of taking her arm, he took Sanji's and leaned on him while walking to the common room where he could hear the others all talking about different things.

Zoro was the first one to see him. Their eyes locked for a moment before Luffy looked away, unsure of why his heart was starting to race in his chest, and his breathing had increased slightly.

Usopp saw him then, and smiled while rushing over to him, hugging him like old friends. "Luffy!" the long nosed teen seemed pleased to see him. "We have a lot to tell you."

"What do you mean?" Luffy asked as Usopp led him to the table where everyone was sitting, Sanji and Boa following closely behind.

"What happened to your leg?" Usopp asked as he realized that Luffy was leaning on him.

Looking away, Luffy cleared his throat while looking only at the floor he said, "I must have pulled a muscle." Luffy tried to play it off.

Usopp nodded, being the expert liar that he was, he knew Luffy was telling a lie. Law though went to where he was and examined the sore leg.

He didn't say anything as he poked at it, once he was done; he just looked at Luffy and walked back to where he had been sitting.

"So you had nightmares again last night?" Usopp asked.

"A few." Luffy said vaguely.

"Want to talk about them?" Usopp asked.

"I think if he wants to talk about it, he will, we are not his therapists." Zoro stated.

"Just letting him know we will listen if he does want to talk about it." Usopp said a little too defensively. "After all what are friends for?"

"Thanks you guys." Luffy smiled at all of them, he didn't want to talk about it, in fact all he wanted was to forget it all, "Just tell me what you all have been doing all day, and what this plan about finding Chopper is."

"Well," Zoro stated, "I want to go find him; I just know he is hurt."

"You can't be sure." Sanji stated.

Zoro glared at the other teen and added, "I am sure."

"Just trust Zoro on this." Nami stated, "When it concerns Chopper, Zoro has always been right."

"Yeah because those two have been here the longest." Sanji grumbled.

"I knew when they took him yesterday that something bad was going to happen." Zoro added.

"Why didn't we go find him yesterday then?" Luffy asked.

Zoro just glared at all the others in turn before saying, "No one wants to admit that this place is messed up."

"What do you mean?" Boa asked. Worry etched on her face about her brother.

Everyone was quiet as they all thought about what Zoro had said. It was Zoro who answered and told the woman what it was he feared, "They experiment on the adults that are in here, and I think they do that to the kids too, only a few though. The ones like Chopper who have no close family and are placed here by the agencies."

"You have no family and were placed here by the agencies too." Usopp slowly said.

Zoro just looked at the other teen and nodded his head.

"Have they done anything to you?" Luffy wanted to know, concern etched over his face for the green haired teen.

"Not in a long time." Zoro admitted.

"What was it they did?" Boa asked.

"I don't remember." The teen reluctantly admitted.

"Just how long have you been here?" Boa was shocked by the conversation.

"About three years now."

"We have to do something to stop this." Boa vowed, "I will not rest easily while Luffy is here with all these experiments going on."

"They won't do anything to him." Zoro had a determined look in his eyes like he would not allow it to happen.

"What makes you so sure?" Boa asked; a touch of iciness in her voice as she thought of all the things that they might do to her baby brother.

"He has family." An equal amount of iciness settled on Zoro's tone as well. "Plus I will not allow it."

"You didn't stop them from taking your other friend." She argued with him. "He is my brother, I will protect him."

Zoro glared at Boa briefly before getting up, he glanced between Luffy and Boa before walking out of the room without saying a word.

Luffy got up and headed out to follow him, Boa tried to reach for him to stay; he just shrugged her off him and left.

"Zoro, wait up." At his words, Zoro turned around to look at him. He leaned against the wall to wait for the younger teen.

Once Luffy had caught up, they continued walking down the hall, passing Luffy's room in silence. Two doors down on the opposite side of the hall, Zoro opened his door and let Luffy go in before he too went in, slowly closing the door after, giving them privacy.


	9. momentum

_**A/N:**__Special Thanks to EzraEssence for giving me the idea about Nami in this chapter. I still own only this plot, the wonderful characters are all owned by Eiichiro Oda. If you have not read his wonderful manga, then you are missing a lot… In fact I buy two copies when I get them, one to read, and one to save. Enjoy this chapter; it has a lot of fluffy ZoLu-ness. And thank you all for reading and reviewing, it keeps me writing this story._

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Zoro's room was empty, even though he had been here so long; he had no personal affects or even anything that said what kind of person he was. Luffy sat on the bed, absently swinging his legs back and forth. Zoro sat down next to him and was silent, letting Luffy be the first to talk.

"So you think you could protect me from the experiments?" Luffy was not sure why he felt so comfortable around this green haired teen, he thought as he lay down on the bed, looking up at Zoro.

Zoro looked at Luffy and slowly nodded his head. "I think so. First things first though, we need to get Chopper."

"What are we going to do once we find him?"

Their eyes met then, Luffy's full of curiosity; Zoro's full of some unknown emotion to Luffy. "I don't know."

"What makes you think I need to be protected?" even as Luffy had said those words; he knew what Zoro would say.

"I don't think you need to be protected; I just thought that your sister needed to know that we care about you as much as anyone else."

Luffy nodded his head and they sat there silently gazing into one another's eyes for a moment before Zoro broke the moment by looking away. Something in his eyes unreadable to Luffy.

He hadn't known them long, yet he felt like he had known them far longer than an eternity, and something made him realize that he had been waiting for this moment all his young life. Reaching over, he cupped Zoro's face in his palm and turned his head so they were looking directly into one another's eyes once more. It seemed to happen in slow motion; he leaned in and softly brushed his lips against Zoro's.

He didn't know why he had kissed him, something just compelled him to. As quickly as his lips brushed against Zoro's he pulled away, absently trailing his tongue over his lips that could still feel the soft ones of Zoro.

"Sorry…" he mumbled as he got up. "I don't know why I did that."

He was about to reach the door and pull it open when Zoro reached out and grabbed his arm, pulling gently so that he landed on the older teen's lap. Strong arms wrapped around his waist, effectively pinning him to the spot; while Zoro buried his face into Luffy's neck, inhaling the soft musky scent of the younger teen.

"I feel it too." Zoro said against his neck, sending shivers up and down as the tiny hairs were gently caressed by the older teen talking and breathing.

"I don't know what it is…" Luffy allowed his body to relax against the stronger one, absently closing his eyes. "All of you are haunting my dreams."

"Even me?"

"Especially you."

Zoro just nodded his head, knowing that if Luffy wanted to talk about it he would, and if not, then nothing he could do would change his mind. He just wanted to be here for Luffy, give comfort and support. If the younger teen wanted more, then he would give it to him.

"I feel like I have known you all my life." Luffy's voice was slightly raspy and full of emotion. "It scares me some…"

"It shouldn't." Zoro lightly kissed the spot behind Luffy's ear, sending a wave of pleasure through the younger teen. "I would never hurt you."

"I know." Even when he said it, he knew it was true, Zoro would never hurt him and he would do everything in his power to make sure no one else ever hurt him.

Luffy wanted to stay awake, he truly did, however as the comfort that he was taking from Zoro settled his mind and body, he slowly drifted off to sleep.

His dream this time was pleasant; he was with Zoro in the dream. It was just the two of them. They were laughing while in a tiny boat. He felt as if he had found someone that would be more precious to him than anyone had ever been. He knew he was happy, the dream made him feel that way. He was with someone that was dear to him; even though he didn't yet understand it.

Zoro stayed awake and held Luffy while the younger teen slept. All night he slept good, only mumbling slightly in his dreams. In the early hours of dawn, Zoro too finally fell asleep.

Luffy woke up feeling more refreshed then he had ever felt in the morning. He carefully untangled himself from Zoro, being extra careful to not wake the older teen.

Opening the door, he noticed that the hall was silent; he made his way back to his own room. When he saw Boa pacing in front of his bed, he momentarily felt guilty; he had forgotten that she was here.

"Luffy!" she exclaimed when she saw him, "Where have you been all night? I have been worried sick about you."

"Let me…" he tried to speak, only to have her pull him into her arms and smother him against her ample bosom.

"You should have come back; from now on I will not let you leave my sight."

"Boa," he fought against her, pulling away from her, "I am fine. I slept good. No nightmares or anything."

She scrutinized him and slowly nodded her head, "Fine, so where were you?"

"With Zoro…" he turned so that she wouldn't notice the blush creeping up his neck, only thing was, she was his sister and knew him too well and ruffled his hair.

"I should kill this other boy. He is trying to steal you away from me."

"No one is stealing me from anyone, and if you so much as hurt him, I will never forgive you."

"Luffy, you barely know this boy."

"I don't care, I feel like I have known him my whole life." His voice was defensive, yet the next words he spoke were softly spoken as if he was still getting used to the idea; "And besides I sort of like him."

"What do you mean? You sort of like him, like him for what?" trepidation was edging into her tone.

"I don't know." Luffy headed to his shower, and added, "Just leave him alone." Before he went into the room and shut the door so he could shower. Effectively silencing her.

Boa didn't know what to do, she had never felt threatened by anyone concerning her relationship with Luffy, even Ace didn't compare to how she knew that Luffy would only find a small measure of comfort with anyone other than her, and now he had stayed the entire night with someone and not once screamed out from his nightmares. It made her feel insignificant, like she was being replaced by this strange teen that might hurt her brother. She felt the tears well up in her eyes and fought to keep them from spilling out.

The buzzing coming from the speaker above the door startled her; she had not been expecting that. It must be the alarm clock that signified they all get out of bed.

When Luffy entered the room once more, he looked good, and Boa felt a twinge of jealousy as she realized that it was not her that had given him the comfort to sleep so well.

"I'm going to go to the cafeteria." Luffy said as he pulled on a clean tee shirt. "You can take a shower and then join me. Or you can do whatever."

Boa wanted to say something to keep him there, yet no words came out from her throat. So she just watched as he left, thinking that he was growing up way too fast for her liking.

Usopp was waiting for him in the hall, as they walked down to the cafeteria, he said; "Your sister freaked out last night. Did you stay with Zoro?"

A slight blush heated up his cheek as he nodded his head, "I fell asleep and he let me sleep in there."

"He's a good guy," Usopp said, "A little quiet, yet I think he is okay. I don't know his story though, in fact no one does except maybe Chopper."

"Is Chopper still missing?"

"He was still M.I.A. last night." Usopp said as they entered the cafeteria. "We put the plan, 'rescue Chopper' into motion tonight."

"So what is the plan?" he asked as they got there trays of food and headed to the table to eat.

"Nami knows how to do computer stuff so she is going to hack into the security system so we can get into the secure area." Usopp's voice was barely above a whisper. "Once we get in, then we have to find him, and get him out before anyone sees us."

"What about those security guys that you seem to hate?"

"Hopefully they won't be here." Usopp waved at Nami and Vivi as they walked into the room, Sanji was fawning all over them.

"We will just have to kick their ass if they are." Luffy grinned good naturedly.

Nami sat down next to Luffy on the opposite side of Usopp while Sanji got her food and Vivi followed Sanji. "Luffy," she whispered to him, "You and Zoro… what is the deal? Are you gay?"

"Nami!" Usopp had heard, he was shocked at the question.

"Well tell me so that I know." She whispered loudly.

"Nami," Usopp said, "I think we should not pry into Luffy's love life."

"I need to know." She explained.

"Why?" Usopp wanted to know, "Do you like Luffy?"

"Of course I like him." She said, "But I know someone who has a major crush on him." With that said she glanced pointedly at Vivi who was laughing at something Sanji was saying.

"So you and Vivi both like Luffy?" Usopp asked in a whisper.

"No you idiot, I like him as a friend." Nami swatted Usopp's arm.

"So who do you like," Usopp asked Luffy, "Vivi or Zoro?"

Luffy looked up just then, and noticed Zoro walking in, their eyes met and for an instant, Luffy felt as if time had stopped.

"I guess that answers that." Nami sighed as she noticed the interaction between the two. "Don't worry, I think Vivi will be able to get over you." She patted Luffy's shoulder and scooted away slightly.

Luffy looked away from Zoro first, he glanced at Nami wondering what she had meant, then it hit him, he did like Zoro for more than a friend, why else would he have kissed him last night? He had never thought of himself as being gay, he just thought that one day he would find someone to love and have them love him in return. Never once thinking what sex the person would be.

Once Zoro got his food, he joined them, Nami scooting over for him to sit between Luffy and herself.

"So is everyone ready?" Zoro asked as he absently ate a piece of toast.

"I think so." Nami said first, "I just need to be excused from the group."

"I can give you an excuse." Sanji wiggled his eyebrow at Nami suggestively.

Nami rolled her eyes and said, "In your dreams Sanji-kun."

"I can tell Robin that you are sick and in the bathroom." Vivi stated.

"What can I do" Luffy asked as Boa walked into the cafeteria commanding all eyes to focus on her beauty.

"Keep your sister occupied." Zoro seemed mildly upset as the woman glared at him.

"I want to help too though." Luffy nearly slammed his fist on the table in his frustration at being told to baby sit his older sister.

"I would love to keep her occupied." Usopp grinned.

"You have a girlfriend." Nami glared at Usopp.

"I will keep her occupied." Sanji said decisively. "Luffy can help you out Zoro."

"What about me?" Usopp complained.

"You will help me." Nami said, "I can't believe you would cheat on your girlfriend."

At her words Usopp blushed slightly and mumbled, "She is not really my girlfriend."

"What do you mean?" Nami demanded.

"She is just a good friend of mine." Usopp admitted. "I had a crush on her a couple of years ago, yet we are just friends. She likes to listen to my stories."

"So that is why she has never come to visit you." Sanji commented.

"That, and I do live about four hundred miles away." Usopp said.

Luffy got up as Boa approached with her tray, "See you all in a while. I have to go do something." He said vaguely.

Usopp got up and said, "I'll go with you."

Luffy waited long enough for Usopp, ignoring the glare that Boa gave him. Once they were heading down the hall, Usopp asked, "So what are we going to do?"

"I am calling Ace." He said as he approached the front desk where there was a phone.

"Your cousin?"

"Yeah."

"You think he will help?"

"Yeah." Luffy said as he dialed his cousin's phone number, "I think we won't be able to stay here once we find Chopper. We will need him to be here so we can leave."

"Good thinking." Usopp said as Luffy listened to the beeps that indicated that Ace's phone was ringing.

When Ace answered, Luffy was relieved. "Ace," he said, "I need you to come here today."

"Are you still in that place?" Ace asked.

"Yeah, I think we are going to need to leave here though later. So bring the van, not your bike."

Ace had an old van that he had converted to a camper a few years back, along with a Harley Davidson that was his pride and joy. "What is all this about?"

"Can you do this for me without me having to say right now? I promise I will tell you as soon as I see you."

Ace sighed and said, "Fine, Marco and I will be there at seven, that is what Boa said visiting hours are."

"Thanks Ace." Luffy smiled and gave Usopp a thumbs up, "I promise I will tell you everything when we see you."

Hanging up the phone, he hurriedly told Usopp what Ace had said.

"So your cousin will help us get away from here?" Usopp asked, "They could take us to my hometown. My gang could hide us. But what about your nightmares?"

"Last night I didn't have any." Luffy smiled, he was more than a little optimistic about his recovery.

Usopp didn't say anything, they were heading into the group room, and others not in there close group were already in there. When they took their seats though, Usopp whispered to Luffy, "That is because you were with Zoro all night huh?"


	10. Check mate

_**A/N:** Sorry I have not updated as regularly as I wanted to, life happened though... Thanks for the wonderful reviews, they are music to my ears when I get an email saying a review has been posted. Anyway, from here on out, it is the rescue Chopper part of this story. This chapter though didn_'t flow the way I like them to go, and I sort of forced it out. Once more I do not own the name One Piece... I do buy the manga and DVD's though, so go support them by doing the same.

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Luffy didn't pay any attention to the others, all he could think about was the plan, and soon they would know if it worked or not. Nami was gone the entire time of group with Robin. Vivi came in looking solemn about ten minutes after it started with the news that something had upset Nami's 'delicate' stomach.

Robin didn't comment, she just indicated that Vivi take a seat.

Luffy and Usopp were the first out the door after, followed closely by Zoro and Sanji, with Vivi between them.

They were all heading for the common room when Franky showed up, "Luffy," he called, "Could you come with me?"

Nodding his head, Luffy followed the large man. He expected Franky to lead him into Iceberg's office; instead he led Luffy into the gymnasium. Two other people were already in there. Brook and Nami.

Trying to hide his surprise at seeing Nami in the gym, he just followed the larger man to where the other two were waiting for them.

"I told you," Nami sighed in exasperation, "I don't want him here." She indicated Luffy.

"Nami," Franky was saying, "You are working with someone, and I think it is safe to say that Luffy is one of the ones you are working with."

"Why would I involve that idiot?" her voice was a little appalled.

"Nami," this smooth voice was one that was from behind Luffy and Franky, turning his head, he saw Robin softly close the door behind them. "Just let me explain."

"We caught you hacking into the facility files." Brook said seriously. "What are you looking for?"

"I was not hacking." Nami slyly said, "I was just goofing around on the computer in the office. Playing chess with it, is that a crime?"

"We know you are all planning something." Franky said, "We just might be able to help you."

Nami snorted and rolled her eyes, her arms were crossed over her chest in a defensive manner. "How many times do I need to tell you that I am not planning anything? And if I was, I definitely would not include this idiot, let him go."

"No." Robin put her hand on Luffy's shoulder and added, "I have a lot to talk to with my ex-captain."

"What do you mean?" Nami and Luffy both asked.

"It was the moment you recognized Brook that we all realized what was happening." Franky told Luffy.

Looking puzzled, Luffy said, "What are you talking about?"

"It was Brook that remembered," Franky stated, "Should I tell them?" he asked Robin and Brook.

"Please do Franky." Robin smiled at him.

Brook just nodded his head as his eyes began to tear up.

"About five years ago, Brook came here with similar dreams as yours Luffy," Franky began. "He was put in the adult section and Robin and I helped him. We stayed with him and slowly the tale came out, about how he felt as if he were a skeleton, how music just came naturally to him, and about his intense loneliness. The three of us felt the connection, and was able to discover that in a past life, Brook had been nicknamed Humming Brook, the walking skeleton. We realized that he had been a pirate that had been condemned after the overthrow of the world government. He was one of several pirates that had been condemned for it."

"Wait a minute…" Nami slowly backed away from the four of them, "Are you trying to say that Luffy's dream about Brook came true way in the past?"

Robin approached her and gently put her arm around the teen, "I know it sounds crazy, but yes, that is exactly how it happened."

"I saw it…" Luffy had a glazed look in his eyes, "I saw it all, when they captured us, and killed us one by one. Brook was the first, then Franky…" Luffy looked straight at Robin and grimaced, "Then you Robin… Oh God," his voice cracked on the words, "I am sorry…" Tears were freely falling from his eyes now.

He knew where he was, yet in his mind's eye he could see the way Robin had suffered, being used as target practice for some snipers, bullets raining down on her hitting her legs, arms and torso. She had still been alive as she collapsed in a heap in front of Luffy, a smile gracing her lips as one bullet finally landed between both of her eyes, ending the torture her body must have endured.

Brook was the one who embraced Luffy first, both of them sobbing silently.

"I feel complete now though." Brook managed to say.

"I couldn't save you guys." Luffy clung to Brook like a drowning man might cling to a life preserver.

"So why am I here listening to all of this?" Nami was torn between an intense desire to flee and an equally intense desire to comfort Luffy. She couldn't say why she didn't want to be here, witnessing the events unfolding before her eyes. And she definitely did not want to hear any more of what Luffy was bound to say, dread filled her as Luffy glanced at her.

"After Robin… they took Chopper… then Sanji." Luffy softly said. "After that it was Usopp, then you Nami… last was Zoro…"

The flee instinct moved her feet and Nami tried to run towards the door, Robin held on to her though and made her stay.

"Let me go." She pleaded, "Please, just let me go, I don't want to hear this." Panic was making her lash out at Robin, "I don't want to hear it…"

Franky effortlessly plucked the thrashing girl away from Robin and held her, patting her back as she felt all the intense emotions that burst through causing her to sob while clinging to Franky.

"You are remembering how it felt." Franky softly told her while Robin embraced the both of them.

"Luffy…" Nami sobbed, "Why?"

Sinking down on his knees, Luffy shook his head in confusion, all sorts of images flashing before his eyes, making him dizzy and nauseous. He was about to reply when his stomach started to roll, sending tiny shock waves up from his gut, warning signs of him throwing up. Luckily Brook noticed and deftly picked him up and carried him out of the gym down the hall to his room.

He made it just in time, his stomach emptied violently into the toilet. Boa, who had been waiting for him in his room cooing over him while all the others were crowding in on his bed.

"What the hell happened?" Boa asked the others as Luffy dry heaved into the toilet.

No one knew what to say, Nami finally escaped and headed to the common room where the others were so that she could tell them what had happened.

"Chopper…" Luffy weakly said, "We have to save him."

"What happened?" Boa once more demanded.

"He is beginning to remember what his soul is tormented by." Robin softly said.

"And what exactly is that?" Boa glared at each one in turn.

"His past life." Brook supplied the answer.

"Luffy," Boa tried to comfort him, "Why do you need to remember? I don't like to see you in pain."

Sanji, Usopp and Zoro crowded into the room, noticing Luffy curled around the toilet, hugging the bowl with sweat pouring down from his body.

"Is he going to be okay?" Usopp asked, "Nami was saying some pretty weird things."

"Chopper… needs our help…" Luffy gasped while his stomach slowly settled down.

"No way am I letting you do anything Luffy." Boa stated.

"I need to get Chopper." Luffy argued. "They are hurting him."

"How do you know?" Franky asked.

"I just know…" Slowly Luffy stood up, pushing his way out of the tiny bathroom; he sat on his bed between Robin and Brook. "I don't know how I know, I just do."

Zoro looked at Luffy for a moment then nodded his head, "If you still want to help, let's go get him."

"You can't be serious." Boa shook her head in her frustration.

Robin ignored Luffy's sister and said, "Well if you are all set on doing this, you better count me in too."

"I think it will be super to rescue little Chopper."

"Yohoho, I am up for an adventure."

Everyone agreed then that it would be best if only one or two went into the actual labs, Robin and Zoro would be the two who went in, while the others were all in the gym for exercises. That is everyone other than Brook and Nami, who by this time had returned to Luffy's room. They would go to Brook's office and Nami would work her magic on the computer, bypassing the security system. On the off chance that anyone got caught everyone had an adult with them so that would be used as the excuse.

Luffy was mildly disappointed that he was not going with Zoro into the labs; he really wanted to see what was going on in there. They all agreed that as soon as Chopper was rescued, they would leave. To which they were pleased that Luffy had contacted Ace.

Robin only had a two seater car, Brook rode a bicycle, and Franky had a muscle car that he was sure would only fit five at the best.

It would be up to Sanji to get some food; Luffy told him to take all the meat. Usopp, Vivi, Boa and Luffy would gather all the belongings and stow them in the gym.

Everyone went to do what they had been assigned to do, Luffy and Usopp stuck together as they rummaged in the different rooms, shoving random items into duffle bags and taking them to the gym.

"Do you think that this is going to work?" Usopp asked as they deposited a couple duffle bags next to the door. They had just left Chopper's room; he had some strange things, different jars and bottles with herbs and a lot of medical books with pieces of paper sticking out of them.

"I think so." Luffy rubbed his growling stomach. "I'm hungry."

"Me too." Usopp said as they headed out of the gym once more.

"You think we could sneak into the kitchens and find something to eat?" Luffy asked. Up ahead he could hear Boa and Vivi talking about boys, Luffy decided he didn't want to hear the conversation, so he veered off to the side and headed back to the kitchen, in the opposite direction. "Sanji is in there, maybe he will give us something to eat to tide us over."

"Not likely," Usopp said as he followed Luffy, "Unless you turned into a girl in the last half an hour."

"I'm not a girl." Luffy seemed affronted by what Usopp had said.

"I didn't say you were. I am just saying that Sanji only caters to girls, so I don't think he will help us raid the kitchen."

"Oh…" Luffy said a little ashamed at how he had overreacted with Usopp.

They headed into the kitchen by way of the cafeteria, luckily no one was around. They could hear Sanji somewhere in the large kitchen, yet they didn't see anyone as they cautiously opened a large walk in fridge.

"Let's hurry it up." Usopp said as they were searching for food.

Finding some lunch meat, and bread, they quickly left with it. Out in the hall they nearly ran into Rob Lucci though as he was rushing past on his way to the labs.

The older man just growled at them and ignored them in his haste to get into the lab.

"Now's our chance," Luffy pulled Usopp with him to the slowly closing door, "Let's go."

"Luffy…" Usopp quietly argued as they slipped into the security door. "We are not supposed to be here. We were supposed to get the personal things and put them in the gym. If they catch us we are so dead."

"Something's going on," Luffy said, "Come on, Zoro and Robin might need our help."

It was no lie, an alarm was sounding in the hall, it sounded like a buzzing alarm clock, warning everyone that the door to lab six was open.

"I don't like this Luffy." Usopp groaned next to him. "I just know they will catch us and torture us."

"Shh." Luffy motioned for Usopp to follow him. Up ahead he could hear shouts and grunts as a fight was in progress. "We gotta hurry." He urged the other teen.

They had just rounded a corner when they witnessed Lucci dragging an unconscious Zoro and an equally unconscious Robin into lab six. The door was left open and both Luffy and Usopp heard the man speaking to someone, "They wanted to be with their little friend so badly, let's see how they react to how he looks now."

"You are a sick man, you know that?" a female voice commented. It was vaguely familiar to Luffy, yet he couldn't place it.

"You love it though Kalifa." The man said. That was it, Luffy realized, that pretty secretary of Iceberg's.

"Well let's just clean them up first shall we?" she said.

"You think there are any more?" a different voice asked.

"Why don't you go check Kaku?"

"We have to hide." Usopp quietly said, dragging Luffy to a door marked storage.

They barely made it in time before they heard footsteps pass by the door, Luffy didn't want to hide, yet he knew that right now he had no other choice.


	11. Actions

_**Sorry it has been like forever since I uploaded this story, a lot has been going on in my life though and I just barely managed to eek it out over the recent holiday's so uh... yeah... about that... I don't own, so don't look to me for money about 'borrowing' these wonderful characters that I love to mess around with, they all belong to Oda... I just own the plot that my friend urged me to write. I have a quick question for you all before you begin this meager chapter, leave a review and let me know if you all want to have a lemon or a lime in this story, I could do one or not... It is all up to my wonderful reviewers on this one, also I am not even halfway done with this story so if you are looking for a lemon or a lime anytime soon, I would have to work it into the plot, I do have a spot it could work so uh... yeah. Anyway's enjoy this update, I am no longer going to promise to update so often, I will say that hopefully within the month the next one will be posted. Thank you for all the reviews and if you are still reading this long ass authors note, well I guess someone has to do that huh?**_

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_****_Inside the small closet, Luffy could faintly hear people passing by, none of them checked to see if anyone was in the small storage closet, which according to Usopp was due to the fervent prayers the long nosed teen was sending to the ceiling. Luffy doubted that anyone in the ceiling cared if they were caught or not, and it was just due to sheer luck that no one thought to open the door and look in the closet.

He had to think of what he could do to rescue not only Chopper now, but Robin and Zoro too. His stomach grumbling didn't help; absently he ate the stash of food that they had pilfered from the kitchen prior to sneaking into the lab.

Usopp still had his eyes tightly closed and his hands folded in front of him as he continued to mumble things to the ceiling. Luffy knew he couldn't just barge into the room and demand to have Zoro, Chopper and Robin returned. Hastily he yanked Usopp closer and whispered to him, "Go tell the others what is going on, I want to try to get them out." He only said for Usopp to do this due to being able to work better alone.

Usopp looked at him as if thinking that Luffy had lost his mind.

"How are you going to do it when Zoro and Robin couldn't do anything?" the long nosed teen asked, doubt evident in his tone.

"I don't know yet." Luffy grinned, "I'll just wing it."

Usopp rolled his eyes and would have said something just then; however some footsteps were heard outside the small closet and made both teen's hold their breath as for a brief moment the door handle jiggled.

"No one's in there," It was Lucci, "That is where I found these two hiding."

"So are they secured?"

"Yeah. We need to go check on the 'resident's.'" Lucci said as their voices slowly drifted away.

"Better yet," Luffy whispered, "Stay here, if I am not back in fifteen minutes, then go tell Franky, and only him."

Usopp nodded his head and watched Luffy count to ten before he eased the door open, looking around it cautiously.

No one was in the hall, in the distance though Luffy could still hear the sound of voices. As quietly as he could, he closed the door, securing Usopp in there. He quickly dashed across the hall and peeked into the window of the lab that Lucci had drug Zoro and Robin into. They were in there, thankfully alone, he couldn't get in though, the door had an access code. Punching in random numbers, he nearly laughed out loud when the light on top turned from red to green, granting him entry.

Glancing around, he slowly opened the door, and slid into the room. Trying to keep out of sight of any possible passersby that might come along the hall outside, he slowly made his way to the sterile tables that Zoro and Robin were secured to. In the corner was a cage and soft mewling sounds were coming from within it. Looking in it, Luffy saw a little reindeer wearing the pink hat that Chopper had always wore.

Shrugging his shoulders, he hurriedly released first Zoro then Robin, shaking them to rouse them.

Both seemed a little confused to see him in the room with them, yet they didn't say a word. "Where is Chopper?" Luffy softly asked.

At his words the little deer made a hiccoughing sound and Luffy heard the voice of Chopper coming from that cage, "In here…" it sounded miserable.

"Chopper?" Luffy slowly approached the metal cage, "Where are you?"

"That is Chopper." Robin sadly said, "We were too late."

All three of them looked at the reindeer that was now Chopper and a thought came to Luffy, the boy/reindeer now looked like he was supposed to. Grinning at the little deer, Luffy said, "Well, are you ready to get out of here? Can you walk properly?"

"I don't know." The voice was near tears.

"Come on," Zoro said, "We have to hurry."

Luffy opened the cage and half carried and half dragged the little deer out of it.

"Usopp is in the storage closet." Luffy said as they headed to the door.

"What is he doing in there?" Zoro wanted to know, "And for that matter, what are you doing in here?"

"Rescuing you, what do you think?" Luffy looked at him as if to say, duh.

"We can talk when we get safely out of here." Robin said while opening the door.

"I agree." Luffy hurried to the storage closet and slowly opened it, Usopp was holding a mop in his hands and was about to swing it towards Luffy.

"Great," Usopp sighed with relief, "You got them, where is Chopper though?"

"Long story." Zoro said, "Come on, let's go."

"I am not leaving without Chopper." Usopp said stubbornly.

"They changed him," Luffy said, "This is Chopper." He indicated the deer still in his arms.

Usopp choked and shoved a hand over his mouth to keep quiet.

"Come on," Zoro was getting impatient, "We have to get out of this section."

"We can't go back the same way though," Robin said as she guided them deeper into the lab's, "We will need to go through the adult section and back up to the teen section, by-passing all the security as we do so."

"Why can't we go back?" Usopp asked as quietly as he possibly could.

Zoro rolled his eyes and glared at Usopp, "If you want to run into Lucci, be my guest."

"No thank you." Usopp said almost too loudly.

"Shh…" Robin placed her index finger over her mouth as she glared slightly at the noisy teen.

"WoW…" Luffy exclaimed almost as loud as Usopp had earlier a few minutes later. "Look at that Zoro…"

Zoro placed one hand over Luffy's mouth; he didn't want to encounter Lucci again, once being knocked out by the emotionless man was enough to last a lifetime. Looking to where Luffy pointed though, everyone slightly gasped as they saw a man dressed as a clown walking around a small room; only thing was, his body was still sitting on the small bed, his hands were at the sink, and his feet were the ones that were walking around back and forth in front of the bed over to the door back to the bed. "What the hell…" Zoro softly cursed at the sight.

Even Robin softly gasped at the red nosed man, Usopp seemed to be choking on something stuck in his throat, and Chopper wanted to study this find.

Robin though regained her sense of urgency and ushered everyone past the oblivious man, "Come on, I don't know how much time we have before they come looking for us, and if anyone else gets in trouble we might as well call the entire thing off…"

They were about to turn a corner when Robin placed her hand over Usopp's mouth and pushed him against the wall, glancing at Zoro to do the same for Luffy who was another loud mouth. When Chopper saw Robin, he too scooted against the wall, trying to make himself smaller. As soon as Zoro covered Luffy's mouth, the raven haired teen glared at him and tried to move away. He hated that they were making him feel so vulnerable.

"We need a distraction…" Robin softly complained as the voices faded down the hall, luckily in the opposite direction.

An idea vaguely formed in Luffy's mind, he glared once more at Zoro and as soon as the green haired teen let him go, Luffy stepped away from the wall heading back in the direction that they had just left. "Go on you guy's, I want to create the diversion. I'll join you in the teen section near the entrance. Oh and Usopp don't forget the picture in my room of my cousin and me okay?"

He was gone before the others could stop him, seeming to be like a shadow in the winding halls and blending into the floor itself, trying to buy the time needed for the others to escape this labyrinth of a lab, and hoping he would not get too lost where he would wonder around in here till he died of starvation. If he did that, he just knew that Boa would find him so she could revive him just to kill him herself for being such a fool.

Within a few minutes, he found what he was looking for, he randomly punched in numbers once more and was rewarded soon with a soft sigh emitting from the heavy door as the light above it went from red to green. Sending a silent thank you to the ceiling that Usopp had been mumbling to earlier, Luffy pushed the door open to reveal the man sitting on the bed while the feet walked right by Luffy.

"Who the hell are you kid?" the man asked as he looked up to see Luffy.

"Oi clown, is that any way to treat the one that rescues you?" Luffy asked slightly miffed. "My name's Luffy, you want to get out of here right?"

The man on the bed laughed strangely and seemed to float as his body followed his feet without touching the ground, his hands slowly followed too. He pushed Luffy out of the way and would have locked Luffy up in the room, had he not yelped at that moment as someone in another hall accidently stepped on his foot.

Deciding to leave the strange straw hat boy alone, the clown went chasing after his feet, his hands leisurely following.

Luffy softly laughed at the sight of it all, he liked the weird guy even though he seemed slightly brash and crude.

He didn't have much time to waste though, so he went down a different hall and found more strange people and randomly pushed buttons to free more and more people from being imprisoned. After a few more, he decided to try to find his own way out now and was skipping along the halls, not a care in the world when he came face to face with that Lucci guy, or more accurately face to back. Luffy very nearly ran right into the tall man's back as he turned. Not having heard the man ahead of him. He knew instinctively that the only way out was on the other side of this man, so what should he do now he thought as he gauged his situation.

He needed a distraction from his distraction he mused to himself as he decided on his plan of action, not too sure how it would all go. Hopefully the others had made it out of the lab's at least, otherwise what he was about to do would be all in vain.


End file.
